Learn how to create new Procedures, open existing Procedures, and save your Procedure to your Workspace.
Accessing the Procedure Builder
The Procedure Builder can be accessed from the settings menu in the top-right corner of the main UI of SynergyXR for PC (Windows and Mac).
From here, users have the option to create a new Procedure or open an existing one.
Create new Procedure
Procedures will always be created in the context of a Space. This means that users will need to define a name for both the Procedure and the Space the Procedure is built in. In addition, users must select which Environment is to be used for the Space – this is done from a dropdown menu including all common and custom Environments already available in the Workspace.
NB. The procedure can be loaded into a different environment once it has been deployed to the workspace, as long as it is not too big to fit within the boundaries of that environment.
Under the advanced options users can create a new Procedure based on an existing one – either from a Procedure already deployed to the Workspace, or from a local file location on the user’s PC. This will create a full copy of the chosen Procedure that users can change without affecting the original Procedure.
Open an Existing Procedure
Users also have the option to open an existing Procedure – either already deployed to the Workspace or located locally on the user’s PC. All Spaces containing a Procedure are shown in the drop-down list, allowing the user to easily choose between relevant Spaces.
In case the user knows that a colleague has updated the online version, the user can choose to overwrite any local copy of the Procedure there might exist with the online version deployed to the Workspace.
Under the advanced options, the user can also define a new local path where Procedures are saved.
Procdure Builder UI Overview
Once a new Procedure has been created or an existing Procedure successfully loaded the user is placed in the chosen Space. The normal menu on the left side of the screen is hidden, and the Procedure Builder UI is shown to the user.
The UI consist of two main panels – the first is the ‘Objects’ menu showing the objects in the scene and their internal hierarchy and relationships. This menu can be resized by pulling the bottom-left corner to adjust to the user’s needs.
The other panel is the main menu giving the user several options:
- Misc: This is where users administer the Procedure, by renaming the Procedure, generating a thumbnail, define a minimum version of SynergyXR needed to run the Procedure, add languages and define guidance voice, define the virtual bounds of the Procedure, and defining the initial position of the Procedure Panel.
- Content: This is where users can configure content and add instances of content to the scene.
- Steps: This is where the Steps of the Procedure is defined and organized into Step Groups.
- Events: This is where events are defined.
- Report: This is where users can access the Procedure performance report identifying potential issues with content of the Procedure.
- Search: Input field allowing users to search for keywords and references in the Procedure. Two buttons allow users to navigate to previous/next search results.
In the top-right of the UI, users can select which of the defined languages should be used when testing the Procedure as well as the option to undo/redo:
- Undo: Click the button to undo the last actions you did. Alternatively, use the CTRL+Z key combination.
- Redo: Click the button to redo the last undo you did. Alternatively, use the CTRL+Y or CTRL+SHIFT+Z key combination.
Clicking the cogwheel on the far top-right corner opens the Editor Menu, where users have the following options:
- Play from start: Allows users to quickly test out the Procedure they are building without the need of deploying to the Workspace.
- Save to Space: Deploys all changes to the Workspace.
- Exit Procedure Builder: Returns the user to the SynergyXR main menu.
In the upper-left corner, users can interact with the camera gizmo, allowing them to get a quick axis-aligned view, and switch between the normal perspective view and an orthographic view.
Save and Deploy
When building a procedure, all changes are continuously saved locally to the PC in the path specified during creation. The default path is defined as:
C:\Users\[YOUR USERNAME]\AppData\LocalLow\SynergyXR\SynergyXR\Procedures
It is possible for users to define an alternative local path when creating a Procedure. This is useful if you keep your Procedures under version control using e.g., Git making team collaboration much easier and safer.
From the Editor Menu, the user has the option to deploy the Procedure to the Workspace, by selecting Save to Space. A warning will be shown telling the user that this action will overwrite the live Procedure, and by accepting this, the changes will go live to the Workspace ready for colleagues to enjoy the Procedure.