Hi! and welcome back to part 4 of the Headjack Crash Course. In this lesson, we will closely examine the various Headjack Essential Templates and how you can use them effectively for VR video production.
While running your VR production studio, you will encounter various use cases that all look pretty similar but have very subtle differences in execution and deployment to the end user. That is why we have built The Headjack Essential Templates, our Template Marketplace, and Headjack Cloud Build. We will have a closer look at Headjack Cloud Build in the next lesson since we will solely focus on templates in this video.
The Headjack Essential Templates are each targetted towards a specific use case and optimized to get your end user from a to b with the least friction. On top of that, these templates can be customized and branded right from the CMS or downloaded as a Unity Package so a developer can use them as a starting point for their development project.
The Headjack Essential Templates
Before we move over to the actual implementation of the Templates in the Headjack CMS, we will review them shortly so you have a general idea of what they are designed to do.
Kiosk – VR Demos Made Simple
Do you need to show your videos to large groups of people or leave your VR headsets unattended? VR Kiosk is the perfect template for the job. This app is frictionless for the end-user with features like auto-repeat and auto-reset. You can either choose between a gaze-controlled menu or a looping playlist.
- User Interface for an audience with no VR experience
- Easy setup with automatic downloading
- Project playlists
- Gaze-controlled menus
- Auto-play and auto-reset
- No instructor required
Cinema – Play XR video in Full Sync
Set up a VR cinema with synced playback in no time. By starting up the app on a VR device, you’ll have complete control over what your audience gets to see using our tablet app. Play, pause or stop videos, and even simultaneously send messages to all devices. The latest update supports the Headjack Operator app to control cinema apps directly from an iPad on local networks.
- Synced playback
- Customizable UI for foolproof setup
- Works with Operator tablet app
- Web interface available
- Offline mode
Grid – Showcase Multiple VR Projects
This is our most elegant template to showcase multiple pieces of content in an easy-to-use interface. You’ll have the ability to add artwork to display your project beautifully. Grid is the most fully featured template, with everything from complete customizability to user-selectable subtitle support.
- Beautiful UI with lots of room for extra content
- Category system
- Can hold an unlimited number of projects
- Works with Headjack Link app
Mobile – Flat VR and Cardboard Design for Android and iPhone
This mobile template is perfect for viewings without a headset. Specifically designed for iPhone, iPad, Android tablets, and Android Phones. You’ll be able to switch between fullscreen 360 and cardboard 360 viewing.
- Easy logo placement and branding options
- Easy publishing to the stores
- Category system
- User Interface with lots of room for extra content
All in One and Studio Templates
If you quickly want to test out all Headjack Templates, it’s best to choose the all-in-one template since it allows you to switch between the templates above without having to do that in the CMS.
Specifically for Headjack Studio Clients, we also have the Link and Operator App available for both cloud build and Unity Downloadable packages. Once you update a studio plan, these templates will immediately come available in your Template marketplace so that you can use our 6-digit login system or the remote control solution.
Selecting and switching a Headjack Template in the CMS
Now we have a brief overview of the Headjack essentials; let’s see how they work in practice. Let’s assume that the app I want to build has to run on an event where no assistance is available to help the user with headset controllers. As we have seen in the overview, the best template for the job is the Headjack Essential Kiosk Template since it has a gaze-controlled menu. Since I now have the All-In-One Template selected, I need to switch it to Kiosk.
Click on the select icon and select the kiosk template. The following prompt will appear because I might lose some settings I have made to the template, which we can ignore in this case.
Next, I need to save the app and watch the changes in Headjack Link. Close the app on your Quest 2 and log in again, and your template should now be switched to the kiosk template.
Template Settings
Apart from switching the template entirely to change its functionalities, each template also has its template settings where you can change the look and branding of the application. You can find the template setting below the template thumbnail. All templates have support for the following branding options
- Splash logo (used when the app starts up)
- 360 mono or stereo panoramic background
- 3 Background Colors (with default 3d environment)
- Logo in the main UI
Next to the branding options, there are also template-specific settings; in the case of our kiosk template, they are mostly related to the gaze controls and menu. Let’s say I don’t want any menu in my app, but the videos must play immediately once the headset is on. I set this kiosk auto-play set to true. Now when I restart the app, the Quest2 immediately starts playing my videos in a looped playlist and resets automatically once the headset is off.
The Template Marketplace
You can find all available templates in the template marketplace, but it is advised to stick with the Headjack Essentials since they receive regular updates and work with Headjack Link. The other templates are deprecated but can be used to inspire developers looking to build their custom UI systems.
You can find videos and detailed descriptions over here. If you are a developer, this is also the place where you can download the complete unity package for further customization. If you have created your custom template in Unity, my templates tab is where you can create and upload new templates to use the Headjack Cloud Build solution, which we will discuss in our next lesson.