Understanding Asset Types and Subtypes

Assets in Presentation Designer all have an associated type and subtype. The type is used to provide a high level visual cue for organizing and identifying assets. The subtype is used to adjust the behavior of an asset in the scene with regard to interaction, drawing or both.

Asset Type Details

Every asset has a type associated with it. This provides a high level categorization of assets and allows Presentation Designer to display the asset with a color coded visual cue. The image below shows each of the supported types in the asset window and is followed by a brief description of each.

• AudioLight TealSupported File Types: WAV, MP3
• ImageBlueSupported File Types: BMP, JPG, JPEG, PNG
• 3D ModelOrangeSupported File Types: FBX, IVE, OBJ, OSGB, WRL
• Slide DeckYellowSupported File Types: PDF, PNG
• VideoGreenSupported File Types: AVI, MPG, MPEG
• Stand InGreyInternal Presentation Designer Assets. Represents specialty assets for placement of the presenter, attendees and teleport locations

Asset Subtype Details

Each of the asset types also has a subtype associated with it. The subtype indicates a specialization of the asset type with regard to how it is used for interaction and rendering.

Audio

• 3D - sound that has a source location and will emit the sound from that location, you’ll be able to hear where it is coming from. These have to be mono sound to work.
• Ambient - sound that doesn’t have a source location. This will sound the same no matter where the user is located.

Image

• 2D - an image that is textured onto a 2D frame.

Model

• Prop - do get position offsets when dragging them in as long as your cursor is over an environment or prop.
• Environment - don’t get position offsets when you drag them in, but can be moved after being dragged in.
• Background - rendered behind everything else, don’t get position offsets when you drag them in, can’t change position at all after being dragged in, don’t allow for intersects when dragging in a prop.

Slide Deck

• Converted PDF - pdf that is converted to a list of png files and textured to a 2D frame.

Video

• Spherical - a video that is textured onto a sphere and can expand to surround all the users in the scene.
• 2D - a video that is textured onto a 2D frame.
• Spherical 3D - a spherical video that has stereo capabilities.

Managing Types and Subtypes

When you upload an asset in Presentation Designer the type will automatically be assigned based on the file extension. No further action is required and you are not allowed to change it.

Presentation Designer will also try to make a reasonable guess about the asset subtype and assign it automatically for you. If it guesses wrong or you simply want to use an asset differently, the asset window provides a mechanism to change the asset subtype.