Elements Support
General Information
Supported 3D Formats
CTRL Elements supports the following 3D-formats. An asterisk (*) indicates partial support.
- 3DS – 3ds Max
- BLEND – Blender *
- DAE – Collada
- DXF – AutoCAD *
- FBX – Autodesk *
- GLTF – glTF
- GLB – glTF
- IFC – Industry Foundation Classes
- LWO – LightWave
- OBJ – Wavefront Object (including additional MTL material files)
- PLY – Stanford Polygon Library
- STL – Stereolithography
CTRL Elements Network Requirements
CTRL Elements is an online-only application, which means that it can only be used when connected to the internet. No requirements exist about the quality of the internet connection, although it should be noted that 3D models are downloaded from a server for the first time they are imported, so a poor connection can make model loading times very long. The quality and latency of the voice connection can also deteriorate from a bad connection.
The collaborative features (collaboratively editing scenes, seeing and talking to other users in VR) require the following UDP ports to be open:
5055, 5056, 5058, 27000-27002
CTRL Elements System Requirements
Elements works with most modern Windows-based VR-ready systems, but it also strongly benefits from more performance. Therefore, the minimum recommended specifications for Elements are:
- CPU: 8th generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor (e.g. Core i7-8700K) / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
- Memory: 16 GB of DDR4 RAM
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 / AMD Radeon RX 6600-XT
It should be noted that having a high performance GPU is the single most important performance factor. Faster systems can load more complex 3D-models and still reach high performance and comfort levels. Laptops can often have mobile versions of desktop GPUs, that are not as performant. They also have a higher risk of being limited by thermal throttling, which can lead to lower VR performance. Therefore, care should be taken when selecting a VR laptop.
Supported VR Systems
Supported and extensively tested VR systems are:
- Oculus Quest 2 (with Oculus Link)
- Oculus Quest (with Oculus Link)
- HP Reverb G2
- Oculus Rift S
- Oculus Rift
- HTC Vive Cosmos
- HTC Vive Pro
- HTC Vive
Other compatible VR systems:
- Valve Index
- HTC Vive Pro Eye
- Most, if not all Windows Mixed Reality headsets
If you own a headset that is not listed, contact us and we will find out your headset’s compatibility!
User Interface
Movement in Virtual Environments
Movement in virtual environments is accomplished either by using your controllers or by using your legs and walking inside the play area. Controllers enable teleporting and “flying”, while walking is limited to the play area that has been set up. Physical movement is still encouraged and is the preferred way for moving small distances and for turning.
The recommended method for moving larger distances is teleporting. It is a fast and comfortable way to move to another location inside the virtual environment. When the teleportation button is pressed down, a beam is projected from your left hand. Releasing the button takes you to the highlighted location. Teleportation is only allowed when the beam is green, while red means that you have to find another target.
Another moving method is freeform gliding (or flying). Gliding makes it easy to move and fly to any direction, even through walls. Gliding is controlled via the touchpads/joystick on both controllers. You can move horizontally, vertically and rotate around. Gliding is a powerful tool, but it can also make unaccustomed users feel nauseated, so only use gliding if it feels comfortable to you, and instead rely more on teleporting.
Movement Modes
CTRL Elements supports three distinct movement modes: Air, Ground and Hybrid. The current movement mode can be changed from the settings menu.
Hybrid: The default movement mode. Teleportation is only allowed on the ground, i.e. one cannot teleport to mid-air or climb a wall using teleporting. Joysticks allow boundless flying (even through walls).
Air: Teleportation allows teleporting anywhere, a maximum of 15 meters at a time. Joysticks allow boundless flying (even through walls).
Ground: Teleportation is only allowed on the ground (the same as in Hybrid mode). Joystick movement only allows gliding on the horizontal plane, so no flying!
HTC Vive & Vive Pro
Oculus Rift S/Quest/Quest 2
HP Reverb G2
Creating a viewer account
Create a viewer account
1. Click “Manage users” button from the top corner of CTRL Hub
2. Click “Add new user”
3. Type viewer’s email address to the field and then click “Add new user”
4. Write down the new password or click “copy to clipboard”
Create a new Project
1. Click “Add new project” from CTRL Hub
2. Enter a name for the project and click “Add”
3. The new project appears in the projects list
Add scenes to the Project
1. Click “Edit” from the new project (Cogwheel symbol)
2. Click the arrow to expand the scenes list
3. Click “Add” to add the scene to the new project
4. You can add a default scene for the project by clicking “Set lobby”. Users will automatically join to the lobby scene when they launch CTRL Elements. Remove lobby by clicking “clear lobby”
Add viewers to the new project
1. Click “Add viewers” to expand the settings
2. Click “Add viewer” next to the account name. You can use a filter to find the user quickly
3. Verify that the user is now in the project’s viewers list
Share 3D-models with the viewer
1. Find the folder where the 3D-models are located. You have to share the same 3D-models that exist in the scenes you shared. Click the “Share”-icon
2. Click “Share to user”
3. Type viewer’s account email address to the field. Click the box that appears under the field
4. Click “Submit”
5. Verify that the viewer is now in the user list
Creating Custom Materials
1. Navigate into the Elements Custom Materials library in Seafile
The library can be found in the “Shared with me” folder in the menu bar on the left. If the library does not exist, start Elements once, and a library should be automatically created. Do NOT try to manually create the library yourself.
2. Create a folder for your new material inside the Elements Custom Materials -library
The name of the folder will be the name of the material inside Elements.
If you want to create a category for your custom material inside Elements, start the name of the folder with the subcategory name and separate it from the name of the material with a colon ‘:’. E.g. A material folder called “Tiles:Bathroom tile” is displayed in Elements under the category “Custom/Tiles” as a material called “Bathroom tile“.
3. Transfer your texture files into that folder, and rename them if needed
Elements needs to know the texture type of the custom materials, this is done via naming the materials correctly. The supported texture types are:
- Color/Albedo map (filename ends with “_a” OR includes “albedo“)
- Metallic map (ends with “_m” OR includes “metallic” OR includes “smooth“)
- Normal map (ends with “_n” OR includes “normal“)
- Height map (ends with “_h” OR includes “height“)
- Occlusion map (ends with “_o” OR includes “occlusion“)
For example: A folder named “Bathroom Ceramic Tile” with the files “tile_a.png”, “tile_m.png” and “tile_n.png”.
The supported texture formats are .jpg ja .png. We also strongly recommend using square-shaped pictures with POT (power-of-two) dimensions, e.g. 512×512 pixels.
4. Your materials are now ready to be used in Elements!
You will find the materials first in the list of available materials inside Elements.
Elements Viewer
Elements Viewer Quick Start Guide can be found from here.
Contact Support
If you experience any need for guidance, more training or help in using the product, please email us directly to support@ctrlreality.fi