Croquet Microverse Builder allows you to create a multiuser virtual 3D world. You can add new 3D objects, change their properties, and write their "behaviors" dynamically, all while you and other users are in the same world.
Every object you create in the world is called a "card". A card can be in any shape and size. Some cards are flat, some hold 3D models, some cards' visual representation are generated programmatically by a behavior. Even the terrain model on which the avatars walk is a card with a 3D model. You can typically drag and drop a 3D model file or an image into a running world to create a card. You can also write a simple specification file to start a new world.
Cards communicate with each other using the Croquet's publish/subscribe mechanism to trigger actions.
A behavior is a class extension mechanism. It is like a subclass of a card which can be attached and detached to a card dynamically. Attached behaviors can enhance features of the "actor" (the model) of the card as well as the "pawn" (the view).
Therefore, creating a Croquet Microverse world means to arrange your 3D objects in the world, including the terrain model, and specify behaviors to some objects. Other user can join a world where you can collaboratively create it. Once you are satisfied, the world definition can be saved into a file, or card specifications can be extracted to the world file.
You can specify the starting point of a session by giving a URL parameter ?world=. If the value for this parameter does not end with .vrse, the value is interpreted as the name of a file in the worlds directory, and corresponding .js file is used. If the value ends with .vrse, it is interpreted as a URL for a .json file saved from the Save menu. The JSON file can be a URL for a public place like GitHub Gist.
One of the demo worlds in the repository is called tutorial1, and can be entered by opening http://localhost:9684/?world=tutorial1
Tutorial1 is made up of three cards (not including the avatars). There is a floor card, which allows us to walk around. A light card that lets us see the world around us. And a flat card with the Croquet logo on it. The code defining this world can be found in the worlds directory. Open microverse-builder/worlds/tutorial1.js in your text editor to see the following code. The init function is used to define the objects that make up the world.
The first value is Constants.AvatarNames, which specifies the name of the 3D model files in microverse-builder/assets/avatars folder. When you add your own avatars, you can simply place them in the same folder and specify their names here.
export function init(Constants) {
Constants.AvatarNames = [
"newwhite", "fixmadhatter", "marchhare", "queenofhearts", "cheshirecat", "alice"
];The next section defines the various behaviors we will be attaching to our cards. The first set of behaviors are system behaviors used to implement the system side features. The second group is for user behaviors generated by the creator of the world and are available in the DefaultCards section below.
Constants.SystemBehaviorDirectory = "behaviors/croquet";
Constants.SystemBehaviorModules = [
"menu.js", "elected.js", "propertySheet.js", "stickyNote.js"
];
Constants.UserBehaviorDirectory = "behaviors/tutorials";
Constants.UserBehaviorModules = [
"lights.js", "gridFloor.js", "joeTheBox.js"
];The final section is where we define the cards. A card is defined by a number of parameters including the name, type, its initial location, scale, orientation, etc. (The full specification of parameters is described in CardSpec.md in the docs directory.)
You can also specify a list of behaviors for a card. A behavior can define the visual representation, how it acts when a user interacts with it, or how it can access live external data streams. In the example below, the first card, named the "world model" is defined by the "GridFloor" module. We will take a look at that shortly. The second card, named "light", defines the lighting in this world. The third card, named "image card", is an example of a typical card in the Croquet Microverse. It creates a floating object in the middle of the scene with the Croquet logo applied.
Constants.DefaultCards = [
{
card: {
name: "world model",
behaviorModules: ["GridFloor"],
layers: ["walk"],
type: "object",
translation:[0, -2, 0],
shadow: true,
}
},
{
card: {
name: "light",
layers: ["light"],
type: "lighting",
behaviorModules: ["Light"],
clearColor: 0xaabbff,
}
},
{
card: {
name: "image card",
translation: [0, 0.4, -10],
scale: [4, 4, 4],
type: "2d",
textureType: "image",
textureLocation: "./assets/images/CroquetLogo_RGB.jpg",
frameColor: 0xcccccc,
color: 0xffffff,
cornerRadius: 0.05,
depth: 0.05,
shadow: true,
}
},
];Behaviors are a class extension mechanism in the Croquet Microverse. It is like subclassing to enhance a card, but you can attach and detach a behavior to/from the actor and the pawn dynamically.
Since a behavior typically requires an actor side and pawn side to work together, we package list of behaviors for the actor and pawn which are separate into an entity we call the "behavior module",
From our tutorial1, let us look at the behaviors in the GridFloor module.
// Grid Floor
// Croquet Microverse
// Generates a simple gridded floor card
class GridFloorPawn {
setup() {
this.shape.children.forEach((c) => {
c.material.dispose();
this.shape.remove(c);
});
this.shape.children = [];
const THREE = Worldcore.THREE;
const gridImage = './assets/images/grid.png';
const texture = new THREE.TextureLoader().load(gridImage);
texture.wrapS = THREE.RepeatWrapping;
texture.wrapT = THREE.RepeatWrapping;
texture.repeat.set( 100, 100 );
let floor = new THREE.Mesh(
new THREE.BoxGeometry( 100, 1, 100, 1, 1, 1 ),
new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({ map: texture, color: 0xcccccc }));
floor.receiveShadow = true;
this.shape.add(floor);
}
}
export default {
modules: [
{
name: "GridFloor",
actorBehaviors: [],
pawnBehaviors: [GridFloorPawn],
}
]
}
Since this module only defines the visual representation, it does not have any actor behaviors. The pawn behavior add a new Three.js Mesh to this.shape, which is the Three.js Group that represents the root of the visual apperanace.
Because behaviors are dynamically modified and attached and detached, their "life cycle" needs some attention. Namely, when the definition is edited and updated (via the watch server or in-world editing), the setup() method of the edited behavior is called. Also, when a behavior is detached from the card, the destroy method is called. Also note that when the browser tab running the application is hidden, the application may lose the WebSocket connection to the Croquet backend. The Croquet system is designed to automatically reconnects and reconstruct the view smart when the tab comes back to the foreground. However, it means that the setup() method may be called again at that moment.
In the GridFloorPawn case, we simply remove all children that this.shape might have first, and then create the new floor Mesh.
The Worldcore variable contains all of the exported functions and objects from the Worldcore package. Refer to the Worldcore documentation for what is available. The most commonly used one is Worldcore.THREE, which in turn contains all exports from Three.js.
Let us look at another module that adds an ability to pointer drag to add a spin to a card.
class SpinActor {
setup() {
this.listen("startSpinning", "startSpinning");
this.listen("stopSpinning", "stopSpinning");
}
startSpinning(spin) {
this.isSpinning = true;
this.qSpin = Worldcore.q_euler(0, spin, 0);
this.doSpin();
}
doSpin() {
if(this.isSpinning) {
this.setRotation(Worldcore.q_multiply(this._rotation, this.qSpin));
this.future(50).doSpin();
}
}
stopSpinning() {
this.isSpinning = false;
}
destroy() {
delete this.isSpinning;
this.unsubscribe(this.id, "startSpinning");
this.unsubscribe(this.id, "stopSpinning");
}
}
class SpinPawn {
setup() {
this.addEventListener("pointerDown", "onPointerDown");
this.addEventListener("pointerUp", "onPointerUp");
this.addEventListener("pointerMove", "onPointerMove");
}
theta(xyz) {
let origin = this.translation;
return (Math.atan2(origin[2] - xyz[2], xyz[0] - origin[0]) + Math.PI * 2) % (Math.PI * 2);
}
onPointerDown(p3d) {
this.base = this.theta(p3d.xyz);
this.baseRotation = [...this._rotation];
this.say("stopSpinning");
this.moveBuffer = [];
}
onPointerMove(p3d) {
this.moveBuffer.push(p3d.xyz);
if (this.moveBuffer.length > 3) {
this.moveBuffer.shift();
}
let next = this.theta(p3d.xyz);
let newAngle = ((next - this.base) + Math.PI * 2) % (Math.PI * 2);
let qAngle = Worldcore.q_euler(0, newAngle, 0);
this.say("setRotation", Worldcore.q_multiply(this.baseRotation, qAngle));
}
onPointerUp(p3d) {
if (p3d.xyz){ // clean up and see if we can spin
if (this.moveBuffer.length < 3) {return;}
let prev = this.theta(this.moveBuffer[0]);
let next = this.theta(p3d.xyz);
this.onPointerMove(p3d);
this.deltaAngle = (next + (Math.PI * 2)) % (Math.PI * 2) - (prev + (Math.PI * 2)) % (Math.PI * 2)
if(Math.abs(this.deltaAngle) > 0.001) {
let a = this.deltaAngle;
a = Math.min(Math.max(-0.1, a), 0.1);
this.say("startSpinning", a);
}
}
}
destroy() {
this.removeEventListener("pointerDown", "onPointerDown");
this.removeEventListener("pointerUp", "onPointerUp");
this.removeEventListener("pointerMove", "onPointerMove");
}
}
export default {
modules: [
{
name: "Spin",
actorBehaviors: [SpinActor],
pawnBehaviors: [SpinPawn]
}
]
}
/* globals Worldcore */The overall structure of this is that the pointer event handlers (for pointerDown, pointerUp and pointerMove) are added to the pawn, and each of which invokes methods called onPointerDown, onPointerMove, and onPointerUp, respectively. The computed qAngle in onPointerMove is used to send the Worldcore's setRotation event. Upon pointerUp, it determines if the card should keep spinning (if it had three or more move events before pointer up), and send an event called startSpinning.
On the actor side, the startSpinning and stopSpinning, which is sent when the next pointerDown occurs, are handled.
The last export statement exports those two behaviors as a module named "Spin".
Recall that setup() may be called multiple times in the life cycle of a card. To mitigate developer's burden, addEventListener() and subscribe() for a card internally keep track of the current listeners and subscriptions, and automatically remove or unsubscribes previous registration before adding new ones. This is why the subscribe()/listen() and addEventListener() calls in the setup() methods for both actor and pawn are simply called without any guards.
However, other kinds of initialization often requires some care. For example, creating a property on the actor side should typically look like this to initialize properties only for the first time.
setup() {
if (this.speed === undefined) this.speed = 0.1;
if (this.angle === undefined) this.angle = 0.02;
...
}Also if a behavior for a pawn creates Three.js objects, the setup() typically removes them before creating new ones, as shown in the GridFloor example.
But don't worry too much about these details initially. Even if you forget to add them at the beginning, the system will keep working, and you can incrementally (and quickly!) correct your code.
While you listed the name of the behaviors in the world file, such as tutorial1.js, this is only necessary to load the behaviors that are used in the DefaultCards list. Once you press the "Connect" button in the menu, all behavior modules that the watch server watches become available.
There are a few tips to know when you debug behavior code with browser's developer tools.
The first thing to keep in mind is that the behavior is stringified and then evaluated to create a JavaScript class object. Therefore, the code is not bound to the original source code anymore. It means that if you navigate to the file from the browser's source tree and set a breakpoint, it will not hit. Instead there are two ways to do so.
The first is simply put the debugger statement in behavior code. Another is to put a console.log call in behavior code. When the console.log is executed and you see results in the console, click on the generated file name such as VM197, VM348, etc.
This will bring up the view of the generated code, and you can set a breakpoint.
Another tip is that when the execution of the program is stopped at the breakpoint for more than 30 seconds, the WebSocket to the reflector is disconnected. This is okay as Croquet will reconnect when you continue execution; but an event may be lost if the view is destroyed.
Yet another tip is that, if the watch-server injects new code, the modified behavior code will be treated as a new chunk of code, and the breakpoint you think you set will not be hit.
Inevitably you will encounter errors during the development. And because your code will be invoked from Croquet's publish/subscribe messaging system and also wrapped in a Proxy, the stack trace itself may be opaque. However, you can still see the top of the stack and the error (typically shown like the image below), and see that the error occurred in DriveActor's setup method, and the error was this.xxx is not a function.
Once you figure this out, you can put a breakpoint in the offending method and step execute.
A Croquet Microverse session may lock up when Three.js crashes with NaN or Infinity or some other values that are created by the program, you create an infinite loop in JavaScript, or any other reasons that is hard to guard against. But don't worry. Your work is typically saved on the disk, and you can just re-launch a fresh session. It is useful to time to update your start .js file so that next session has all things you want.
You can bring up the Property Sheet for a card by holding down the control key and clicking on a card.
You can duplicate or delete the card from "actions". If you multi-select the modules and then press apply, you can attach or detach the modules (and the setup() and destroy() of them are called.)
The text area below shows the properties of the card in the format that is compatible with the card specification in the world file. You can edit values and hit Ctrl-S (on Windows) or Cmd-S (on Mac), and the values are used to update the card. Also, you can copy the contents to your world file.
Note however that the content is not evaluated as a JavaScript expression; rather, each line of the text is parsed, and the part after ":" is passed with JSON.parse() to create the value. (This is to avoid opening up full eval() feature from the property sheet.)
With the Property Sheet, you can extract the values for your world file. You can also choose the "Save" item in the bottom-left menu to create a VRSE file. If you specify the location of the VRSE file to the ?world= URL parameter, the content will be used to start the world.
The system internally records "persistent data" at 60 second intervals when there are some activities. The data saved is essentially the same as the file created by "Save". It contains essential data to recreate the cards, but does not contain transient values of views, or avatars' states.
Also note that the start file, either in .js or .vrse, is used only once to initialize the session. Any changes to the file after starting the world will not have any effects if you open the same Croquet Microvese session, which is specified by the ?q= URL parameter.
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