Basic VP/XR Studio Workflow

February 09, 2025 16:15

Basic VP/XR Studio Workflow Outline

This workflow is archived for reference in favor of the basic template based workflow, since that does not require the user to undergo all of these steps to ready the scene for the XR Studio.

Setting up your Unreal project

This assumes you are creating and configuring an Unreal Engine project from scratch.

Open Unreal Engine. Currently we should be running 5.5.1.
Create a new Blank project template.
After loading, this should open up to the default Open World scene, which has hills/mountains on the edge of a large rectangular terrain asset, with a relatively flat plain in its center.
Create a new level (File > New Level), select the Basic Template, the one with the blue sky and blank rectangular platform.
Save the current level. File > Save Current Level as…
We’re going to now configure your Unreal Engine project for the XR Studio. In the Windows File Explorer, go to your Unreal Engine project’s root directory. You can reach this by right-clicking on an asset in the Content Drawer (the lower sub-window) then the option Show in Explorer. Navigate your way back up to your project’s root directory. You should see your Content folder there.
Do not go into the Contents folder. Stay in the root directory of the project, where the Contents folder/the Unreal Project file is located.
In the root directory, create a new folder and title it Plugins.
There, you will need to download and extract the RenderStream-UE plugin. Check that you are downloading the latest matching plugin version according to the version of Unreal Engine (5.5.1) that we are running. In our case, we would download RS2.0-UE5.5-v0.
Extract the RenderStream-UE plugin folder into your UE project’s Plugins folder.
Go back into the Unreal Engine editor. Go to Edit > Plugins.
Search for ‘RenderStream’. If you do not see it, then restart your Unreal Engine project, and re-open your new level. Toggle it/enable it by clicking on the dark checkbox to the left of the plugin thumbnail/details.
Unreal will warn you about this being an experimental version. Click ‘Yes’ to proceed onwards.
Unreal will prompt you to restart. We shall do so.
Wait until the Unreal Engine project restarts.
Once re-opened, confirm the RenderStream plugin is loaded then close the Plugins window.
You may notice the Unreal Engine project re-opens back to the Open World default level. Let’s change the project’s default level to our new one by going into Edit > Project Settings.
Then, in the Project Settings window, go to Project > Maps & Modes.
We will change the maps for Editor Startup Map and Game Default Map.Switch them both to your new level.
Next, we need to go into our RenderStream plugin settings. We can find them in the Project Settings window by scrolling down on the left sidebar to Plugins > Disguise RenderStream.
Set your Scene Selection from None to Maps.
Close the Project Settings window and let us re-open our level.
In the Outliner on the top right, select and delete the Player Start object.
Then we will add a camera by navigating through the following:
Add Content (cube with the green plus icon) > Cinematic > Cine Camera Actor.
Note that the placement of the camera does not define what we will see on the LED Screen. That entirely depends on our scene’s origin, which corresponds to the direct center & bottom edge location of the XR Studio’s LED Screen. The virtual camera’s location will match to our physical camera’s location via the camera tracking data fed by the stYpe Redspy.
Anyways, let’s configure our new camera to be able to render our Unreal Engine scene onto the LED Wall. Select your new Cine Camera Actor. I would recommend renaming the camera object to something such as “BackplateCamera” or “BP_Camera”, and keeping your scene objects organized in the Outliner, as needed.
Now, with the CineCamera selected on the right side-bar, below the Outliner, press the Add (Component) button. Search for and select Render Stream Channel Definition.
With that added, select that component and scroll down the Details menu. Check that the Scene Capture > Default Visibility is set to Visible. Go to Activation and set that to Auto-Activate.
As a test, let's add an object to our scene. In your Content Drawer, go into StarterContent then Props. Click and drag an SM_Chair or prop of preference.
Save all. CTRL + SHIFT + S

Transferring your Unreal Project to the XR Studio

Navigate to your project’s root directory, then go up a directory to the folder where your entire UE project is stored. Minimize your Unreal Engine editor window.
We will connect to the NAS (Network Attached Storage) by using the Desktop shortcut… double click on the shortcut to EML-XR-NAS.
1. If such a shortcut is not accessible, this can be accessed by typing in the address (\\EML-XR-NAS.emerson.edu)) or (\\10.24.16.200) into:
  1. In another File Explorer window within the File Address bar
  2. The WIndows search bar
  3. Run (Windows + R)
This will open the EML-XR-NAS directory, similar to how the Bin works.
Copy your Unreal Engine project into the Project_Dropoff folder.
Now we must remote onto the disguise Render Servers and ensure that our Unreal Engine project is in the correct directory (RenderStream Projects) so that the software used for controlling/configuring the XR Studio, disguise Designer (d3), will be populating the list of available projects for the RenderStream layer by looking at that folder.
1. Note: It is recommended that you have your project file copied onto both/all the Render Servers’ RenderStream directories… especially when you get to using the multi-render node workflows (i.e. Frontplate & Backplate, Inner & Outer Frustum, Cluster Rendering, etc).
There are two methods of remoting onto the other servers:
1. Method 1: Using the Teaching Station KVM.
  1. Assuming you are signed in on the Teacher’s Station, press [CTRL] + [ALT] + [C] on your keyboard. You will see a prompt, asking you to select a machine. You should currently be remoted onto the Teacher’s Station machine.
  2. There are five other machines, currently accessible through the KVM:
    1. The two Media Servers
      1. Director
      2. Actor
    2. The two Render servers
      1. RXII-A
      2. RXII-B
    3. And the stYpe server for the Camera Tracking
  3. Select RXII-A either using the mouse or keyboard the arrow keys.
2. Method 2: Using Parsec on the student workstations.
  1. On an EML workstation, launch Parsec.
  2. Parsec will be automatically logged in on the EML’s workstations. You should see four available machines to remote onto.
  3. Similarly, you will see the two Media servers (Director, Actor) and two Render servers (RXII-A, RXII-B). You presently cannot remote onto the stYpe server via Parsec.
  4. Select RXII-A-56486
Regardless of your remoting method, you should now be on Render Server A (RXII-A).
(On RXII-A) On the Desktop, click on the EML-XR-NAS shortcut.
Navigate to the Project_Dropoff folder.
In there, find your UE project. Click then drag it into the RenderStream Projects directory shortcut. It is also recommended that you do this again, but into the RXII-B Projects directory as well.
If you get a warning prompt, press OK.
Now remote onto the Director machine.
1. Note: If you are remoting via Parsec, look for the floating white button with the orange-red Parsec symbol. Click on it and then Disconnect or use the shortcut: [CTRL] + [ALT] + [`] (apostrophe)
In the Director machine, launch d3manager from the Desktop.
The d3manager window will open, this is a project launcher/manager. If this is your first time jumping into disguise, we’ll make a new project. We have a pre-setup project serving as a template with the XR Studio set up and calibrated. Go to File > New Project.
Name it accordingly. Create!
Double-click or click the Run Project button down below.
NOTE OF POTENTIAL ISSUE: When either copying/setting up a new project, the Actor’s project copy de-capitalizes the internal project files, which may cause some linked video media layers to be marked as red as the directories do not match exactly between the Director and Actor as a result of this. A solution is to remote onto RXII-A, open up the shortcuts for both d3 projects, and copy the one from the Director and overwrite the one on the Actor.
Welcome to Disguise Designer. (The UI will look better since you will not be remoting on from your work laptop to gather these screenshots). Let’s get your scene up on the wall. Before we do anything, check to top right for either the green or the red Fade Up/Fade Down button. Make sure it is green and set to Fade Up. Either click it and select Fade up from the dropdown or press backspace as a quick shortcut. Fading down will fade everything on the LED screen, and quasar front lights to black. THis may be an issue for us to see our scene up and running on the wall.
Anyways, let’s go to our pre-existing Example track. Look at the top bar of the Disguise Designer interface, you are currently in the Stage View with the demo track. Click on the section of the top bar labelled Track and switch to example.
This track contains, on the timeline below, from bottom to top:
- A RenderStream layer for configuring what active Unreal Engine scene is being rendered is.
- Two separate video layers to map/configure each quasar separately.
- A custom Scene Origin Open Layer, to change the initial position of the virtual Unreal Engine camera, driving what we see on the LED Screen and Virtual Set Extension.
Left-click on the RenderStream Layer, a properties window will pop up.
Right-click on Workload.
Left-click on Asset, this is the currently set Unreal Engine project. Select your newly loaded Unreal Engine project.
You may notice the previous mapping for the CineCameraActor in the previously set Virtual Studio UE scene is now red. That is because our camera is named differently in our UE project. Click on the red CineCameraActor mapping.
Set it to BP_Camera. Looking at the settings for the BP_Camera channel: for Mapping, set it to emerson_xr_target (backplate), and the Assigner to inner frustum full.
Check back on the initial RenderStream properties window, and look at the bottom to see what is the active Unreal Engine scene (or level as it would be known in UE). It defaulted to Advanced_Lighting in our project. This is not correct. Left-click and change it to the correct map (Example_Map in this case).
Back in the Workload Settings window, go all the way to the bottom and press Start assuming all else is correct.
Now we wait for it to launch, compile, and appear on the LED screen.
Note: Your first time running an Unreal Engine may require significantly longer compilation time. Starting the same scene/workload from there on, barring any significant changes to assets, materials/shaders or rendering settings, should be far quicker.
Your scene should now be actively rendered onto the LED Screen. Check the real life XR Studio’s screen to confirm.
One last minor adjustment, our Unreal Engine camera is currently set to the Scene Origin offset for the previous VirtualStudio scene. We can correct this by clicking on the top Scene Origin layer on the timeline.
Then setting it from studio to None.
And now there’s our chair (or assets of choice).
You can also create new scene origins and fine-tune the UE camera’s base tracked location according to what you need. In Scene Origin, type a name in the New SceneOrigin field, then click OK or press Enter.