About XML Configuration Files

XML configuration files let you specify the devices you use as well as their parameters (VPRN host, port, buttons, and analogs), the SUI model (user position, screen positions and orientations), and the navigation modes.

This page discusses:

See Also
Viewing Objects in a Wall Environment
Configuring a CAVE Environment

XSD

The root XML element of the configuration is an IVConfiguration node. It contains several attributes such as the XSD path and the name of the configuration.

The XSD file can be found in C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\B424\win_b64\resources\xsd.

The IVConfiguration node contains four child elements describing four sections of the configuration file:

  • Input Devices
  • SUI Model
  • Navigation
  • Device Mapping.

Input Devices

This section of the configuration file describes the devices to use and their parameters.

The supported devices are:

The correct syntax for each device is:

  • The type must be coherent with the types supported: VRPN device, and so on.
  • The name of the device can be used as reference in the Device Mapping section.
  • The physicalReferential of the device defines the orientation (euler_zxy) and position (float3) of the device referential in the interaction context referential.
  • A specific attribute for specific devices.

VRPN Device

The VRPN device is composed of one or several sensors, the correct syntax for Sensor is as follows:

  • Sensor can only be of type: tracker, button or analog.
  • devId must be different for each sensor in one category. It is the VRPN id.
  • devId corresponds to button in VRPN glossary for buttons.
  • devId corresponds to sensor in VRPN glossary for trackers.
  • devId corresponds to channel in VRPN glossary for analogs.
  • The name of each sensor can be used as reference in the Device Mapping section.

Before using a VRPN device, a VRPN server must be created because the use of a VRPN device is a remote use.

Below is an example of a device section declaring a VRPN device:

<InputDevices>		
   <Device
        type="VRPNDevice"
        name="VRPNDevice_Alias"
        vrpnAddress="Tracker0@127.0.0.1:3883"
        physicalReferential="euler_zxy(0.0,-90.0,0.0);float3(0.0,0.0,0.0)">

		<Sensor type="tracker" devId="1" name="trackerHead" />
		<Sensor type="tracker" devId="0" name="trackerHand" />
	  
		<Sensor type="button" name="Bumper" devId="5" />  
		<Sensor type="button" name="BLeft" devId="4" />
		<Sensor type="button" name="BMiddleLeft" devId="3" />
		<Sensor type="button" name="BMiddleRight" devId="2" />
		<Sensor type="button" name="BRight" devId="1" />
		<Sensor type="button" name="Trigger" devId="0" />
			
		<Sensor type="analog"  devId="1" name="joystickHor"  />
		<Sensor type="analog"  devId="0" name="joystickVer"  />

    </Device>  
  </InputDevices>

Gamepad

The gamepad device is declared with a specific type, buttons and axis are predefined with predefined names. Each button or axis can be used as reference in the Device Mapping section with the predefined names:

  • A: button A
  • B: button B
  • X: button X
  • Y: button Y
  • LB: rear left button
  • RB: rear right button
  • LSB: left stick button
  • RSB: right stick button
  • BACK: "back" button
  • START: start button
  • LT: left trigger
  • RT: right trigger
  • LSY: left stick vertical axis
  • LSX: left stick horizontal axis
  • RSY: right stick vertical axis
  • RSX: right stick horizontal axis
  • DPAD: D-pad value ( 0, 45, 90, ... 315).

Below is an example of a device section declaring a gamepad: 

<InputDevices>
    <Device
        type="Gamepad"
        name="Gamepad_Alias" />
  </InputDevices>

OpenVR Device

The OpenVR device is composed of several predefined sensors, the correct syntax for Sensor is as follows:

  • Sensor can only be of type: tracker, button, or analog.
  • devId specifies a predefined tracker, button or analog.
  • devId="0" for a tracker defines the head tracker
  • devId="1" for a tracker defines the first controller tracker
  • devId="2" for a tracker defines the second controller tracker
  • devId="0" for an analog defines the first horizontal axis
  • devId="1" for an analog defines the first vertical axis
  • devId="2" for an analog defines the first trigger
  • devId="10" for an analog defines the second horizontal axis
  • devId="11" for an analog defines the second vertical axis
  • devId="12" for an analog defines the second trigger
  • devId="0" for a button defines the first System button
  • devId="1" for a button defines the first Menu button
  • devId="2" for a button defines the first Grip button
  • devId="3" for a button defines the first Center button
  • devId="4" for a button defines the first Trigger button
  • devId="8" for a button defines the second System button
  • devId="9" for a button defines the second Menu button
  • devId="10" for a button defines the second Grip button
  • devId="11" for a button defines the second Center button
  • devId="12" for a button defines the second Trigger button
  • The name of each sensor can be used as reference in the Device Mapping section.

Below is an example of a device section declaring an HTC Vive™ as an OpenVR device: 

<InputDevices>
    <Device
        type="OpenVRDevice"
        name="HTCVive_Alias"
        physicalReferential="euler_zxy(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);float3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)">

                <Sensor type="tracker" name="headTracker" devId="0" />
                <Sensor type="tracker" name="controllerTracker_1" devId="1" />
                <Sensor type="tracker" name="controllerTracker_2" devId="2" />

                <Sensor type="analog" name="aHorizontal_1" devId="0" />
                <Sensor type="analog" name="aVertical_1"   devId="1" />
                <Sensor type="analog" name="aTrigger_1"    devId="2" />

                <Sensor type="analog" name="aHorizontal_2" devId="10" />
                <Sensor type="analog" name="aVertical_2"   devId="11" />
                <Sensor type="analog" name="aTrigger_2"    devId="12" />

                <Sensor type="button" name="bSystem_l"  devId="0" />
                <Sensor type="button" name="bMenu_1"    devId="1" />
                <Sensor type="button" name="bGrip_1"    devId="2" />
                <Sensor type="button" name="bCenter_1"  devId="3" />
                <Sensor type="button" name="bTrigger_1" devId="4" />

                <Sensor type="button" name="bSystem_2"  devId="8" />
                <Sensor type="button" name="bMenu_2"    devId="9" />
                <Sensor type="button" name="bGrip_2"    devId="10" />
                <Sensor type="button" name="bCenter_2"  devId="11" />          
                <Sensor type="button" name="bTrigger_2" devId="12" />
    </Device>
  </InputDevices>

Sensics zSight™

The SensicszSight device is composed of one predefined sensor, the correct syntax for Sensor is as follows:

  • Sensor can only be of type: tracker
  • devId specifies a predefined tracker.
  • devId="0" for a tracker defines the head tracker
  • The name of the sensor can be used as reference in the Device Mapping section.

Below is an example of a device section declaring a zSight Sensics™: 

<InputDevices>
    <Device
        type="SensicszSight"
        name="zSight_Alias"
        interpupillaryDistance="65"
        physicalReferential="euler_zxy(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);float3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)">
                <Sensor type="tracker" name="headTracker" devId="0" />
    </Device>
  </InputDevices>

ART DTrack™ Servers

You need a configured ART DTrack™ server to send tracking information to the network port of the computer on which the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is running.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform must use a configuration file where a peripheral of type DTrackServer is declared. This peripheral is parameterized with the DTrack server port (through the port instruction).

Below is an example of a device section declaring an ART DTrack™ server: 

<Device
        type="DTrackServer"
        name="DTrackServer_Alias"
        port="5000"
        physicalReferential="euler_zxy(1., 2., 3.);float3(4., 5., 6.)">

            <Sensor type="tracker" devId="0" name="Tracker0_Alias" />
            <Sensor type="tracker" devId="1" name="Tracker1_Alias" />
            <Sensor type="analog"  devId="0" name="Analog0_Alias"  />
            <Sensor type="button"  devId="0" name="Button0_Alias"  />

    </Device>

SUI Model

This section is used to describe the SUI ((Sensorial User in Interaction) model of the scenario.

The SUI model is a scenegraph-like structure describing the different users and their context of interaction (that is to say, the other elements of the VR system such as screens or markers). It provides a common abstract representation of the users and their context of interaction both in the real world and in the virtual world. This prevents immersive application developers from accessing low level services such as tracking devices which have no semantic.

The SUI Model mainly stores the physical position of its elements and a mapping matrix defining the virtual position of the whole interaction context. It also stores additional attributes such as screen sizes, resolutions, and so on.

A user navigating in a CAVE environment. The virtual position of the whole interaction context is adjusted as the user navigates but its physical position remains unchanged.

The root element is the SUIScenario which can have two types:

  • CAVE
  • Immersive Wall.

The child element of SUIScenario is the InteractionContext.

If the env variable IV_MANUAL_INIT_V is not set, the current camera of the console is used. Otherwise the attributes virtualPosition and virtualRotation define the initial value of the interaction context position and orientation in the 3DEXPERIENCE referential.

The child element of InteractionContext is the User or PhysicalEnvironment.

The User element contains elements corresponding to the user's members (hand, head, and so on). The user model can be really simple.

The PhysicalEnvironment contains elements of the VR System as screens.

The screen can have additional attributes:

  • displayPosition: defines the offset of the screen in the video memory.
  • displayResolution: defines the size of the screen in the video memory.
  • physicalSize: defines the physical size of the screen (in millimeters).
  • mainScreen: indicates if the screen has to be treated as part of the main screen by SUI commands/behaviours.
  • activeStereoscopy: when set to true, this flag indicates that both left and right stereo frames have to be rendered on this screen.
  • passiveStereoscopy: this attribute specifies which stereo frame (left or right) is to be rendered on this screen.

The 2D screen is located in the xOy plane and is centered on the origin of its local coordinate system.

Below is an example of a SUI Model section declaring a user with a head and a hand in front of a standard 16/9 full HD screen split into four:

<SUI>
  <SUIScenario name="CAVEScenario" type="CAVE">
    <InteractionContext
      name="InteractionContext"
      virtualPosition="float3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)"
      virtualRotation="euler_zxy(0.0, 90.0, 0.0)">

      <User name="User"  physicalPosition="float3(0.0,0.0,0.0)">
          <Head name="Head" physicalPosition="float3(0.0,0.0,0.0)"/>
          <Hand name="Hand" physicalOrientation="euler_zxy(0.0,0.0,0.0)" physicalPosition="float3(0.0,1800.0,0.0)"/>
      </User>

      <PhysicalEnvironment physicalPosition="float3(0.0,0.0,0.0)" physicalOrientation="euler_zxy(0.0,0.0,0.0)">
        <Screen
          name="Screen1"
          physicalPosition="float3(-118.75, 68.75, 0.0)"
          physicalOrientation="euler_zxy(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)"
          physicalSize="float2(237.5, 137.5)"
          displayPosition="int2(1920, 0)"
          displayResolution="int2(960, 540)"
          mainScreen="true" />
        <Screen
          name="Screen2"
          physicalPosition="float3(118.75, 68.75, 0.0)"
          physicalOrientation="euler_zxy(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)"
          physicalSize="float2(237.5, 137.5)"
          displayPosition="int2(2880, 0)"
          displayResolution="int2(960, 540)"
          mainScreen="true" />
        <Screen
          name="Screen3"
          physicalPosition="float3(-118.75, -68.75, 0.0)"
          physicalOrientation="euler_zxy(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)"
          physicalSize="float2(237.5, 137.5)"
          displayPosition="int2(1920, 540)"
          displayResolution="int2(960, 540)"
          mainScreen="true" />
        <Screen
          name="Screen4"
          physicalPosition="float3(118.75, -68.75, 0.0)"
          physicalOrientation="euler_zxy(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)"
          physicalSize="float2(237.5, 137.5)"
          displayPosition="int2(2880, 540)"
          displayResolution="int2(960, 540)"
          mainScreen="true" />
      </PhysicalEnvironment>

    </InteractionContext>
  </SUIScenario>
</SUI>

Regarding the InteractionContext, note that the names of the head, hands and screens can be used as references in the Device Mapping section.

Navigation

This section describes the navigation modes. Each navigation mode is composed of transformations (Transform) and constraints (Constraint).

Transformations can be either translation Translate, rotations Rotate, scale Scale or ResetHorizontal.

  • Translation is defined by an axis and a speed.
  • Rotate is defined by an axis, center and speed.
  • Scale is defined by a center and speed.
  • ResetHorizontal applies Z axis gravity to the camera.

Axis and centers can be defined in the virtual world coordinate system or in the local coordinate system of any SUI element by prepending the name of the SUI element to the float3 specifier.

Constraints can be either LimitPosition, LimitPositionOffset, LimitOrientation, LimitScale or AlignWith.

  • LimitPositionOffset defines the coordinate min and max value. It is defined by a coordinate, a minValue and a maxValue.
  • LimitOrientation defines the angle min and max value. It is defined by an angle, a minValue and a maxValue.
  • LimitScale defines the scale min and max value. It is defined by a minValue and a maxValue.
  • AlignWith aligns one axis of the interaction context with a reference axis of the 3DEXPERIENCE referential. It is defined by a minAngle, a maxAngle, an axis and a referenceAxis.

Below is an example of a navigation section declaring two navigation modes, Fly and Walk: 

<Navigation>

  <NavigationMode name="Fly" default="true">
    <Transform name="Move" type="Translate" axis="Screen1.ZAxis" speed="-2.0" />
    <Transform name="Pitch" type="Rotate" axis="Screen1.XAxis" center="Head.Origin" speed="0.7" />
    <Transform name="Yaw"  type="Rotate" axis="Screen1.YAxis" center="Head.Origin" speed="0.7" />
    <Transform name="Roll" type="Rotate" axis="Screen1.ZAxis" center="Head.Origin" speed="0.7" />
  </NavigationMode>

  <NavigationMode name="Walk">
    <Transform name="Move" type="Translate" axis="Screen1.ZAxis" speed="-2.0" />
    <Transform name="Turn"  type="Rotate" axis="Screen1.YAxis" center="Head.Origin" speed="0.7" />

    <Constraint name="Floor" type="LimitPosition" coordinate="Z" minValue="0" maxValue="0" />
  </NavigationMode>

</Navigation>

The Fly navigation mode provides four transformations:

  • Translation along the Z axis of the Screen1 SUI element.
  • Rotation around the X axis of Screen1 and the user's head.
  • Rotation around the Y axis of Screen1 and the user's head.
  • Rotation around the Z axis of Screen1 and the user's head.

The Walk navigation mode declares only two transformations but also declares an additional constraint to keep the user on the floor (i.e. z = 0).

Some rules apply to the navigation:

  • Transforms of type "Translate" see their "speed" attribute overwritten by the "speed" value entered in the panel.
  • axis and center can reference the name of an element previously created in the SUI (here, Screen1 and Head).

Cameras

You can define the button to be used and the list of cameras through which you navigate.

Below is an example for the HTC Vive™:

<DeviceMapping>
     <ButtonMapping button="HTCVive.bTrigger_1" action="CameraNavigation" cameras="Camera.2 Camera.3"/>
</DeviceMapping>

Performance

This section lets you activate or deactivate prehighlighting and highlighting effects, as well as the mirror mode.

You can activate or deactivate the following options:

  • disableMirrorWindow: when set to false, makes the VR mirror on the computer without having to put the headset on (for CAVE scenarios with an HTC). By default, this option is set to true.
  • disablePrehighlight: when set to true, deactivates prehighlight in client windows (for CAVE scenarios without HTC) when hovering over an object.
  • disableHighlight: when set to true, deactivates highlight in client windows (for CAVE scenarios without HTC) when selecting an object.

Below is an example:

<RenderingOptions disableMasterRendering="false" disableMirrorWindow="true" disableHighlight="true" disablePrehighlight="true"/>

Note: If disablePrehighlight/disableHighlight options are not activated, then objects prehighlighted/highlighted in the 3DEXPERIENCE window are also prehighlighted/highlighted the client windows.

Device Mapping

This section is used to map the devices declared in the Device section to the actions exposed by the scenario.

Note that:

  • Trackers can be mapped to tracking actions. TrackerMapping is defined by the action Track and maps a SUI element as the target to a device component tracker.
  • Axis can be mapped to navigate actions. AxisMapping is defined by the action Navigate and maps the axis of the transform to a device component axis.
  • Buttons can be mapped to navigate actions Navigate and to additional actions such as SwitchNavigationMode, ResetViewpointRotation and Select.

Below is an example of a mapping section mapping trackers, axis and buttons:

<DeviceMapping>

  <TrackerMapping tracker="VRPNConfig.trackerHead"  action="Track" target="Head" />
  <TrackerMapping tracker="VRPNConfig.trackerHand" action="Track" target="Hand" />

  <AxisMapping axis="VRPNConfig.joystickVerRight" action="Navigate" transform="Move" />
  <AxisMapping axis="VRPNConfig.joystickHorRight" action="Navigate" transform="Yaw" inverted="true" />

  <AxisMapping axis="VRPNConfig.joystickVerRight" action="Navigate" transform="Move" />
  <AxisMapping axis="VRPNConfig.joystickHorRight" action="Navigate" transform="Turn" inverted="true" />

  <ButtonMapping button="VRPNConfig.b1Right"     action="SwitchNavigationMode" />
  <ButtonMapping button="VRPNConfig.bumperRight" action="Select" axis="Hand.YAxis" />

</DeviceMapping>

In the above example, the right vertical axis is mapped to the Move transformation of the Fly navigation mode and the right horizontal axis is mapped to the Yaw transformation of the Fly navigation mode. Similar mappings are defined for the Walk navigation mode (note that a single axis can be mapped to two transformations declared in two distinct navigation modes as only one navigation mode is active at a time). The b1Right button is mapped to the Switch navigation mode action which loops on declared navigation modes and the bumperRight button is mapped to the Select action which performs selection.

Some rules apply to device mapping:

  • tracker, axis and button can reference the names of the InputDevice (VRPNConfig in this case) and its sensors (trackerHead, joystickVerRight, b1Right and so on).
  • transform can reference the names of Navigation Modes transforms (Move, Yaw, Turn).
  • axis can reference the name of an element previously created in the SUI (Hand in this case).