Advice on Meeting settings
Hello, We have been experimenting with the Meeting command in VR and are seeing some real uses for guided teaching sessions. We're looking for ways to finesse set up for these sessions and I wonder if you could help with some technical questions we have: 1. What main optimisations of the settings would you recommend for smoother running in VR? 2. Is there an easy way to toggle off all people's interactions with the model with one command except the host? 3. Same as Q2, is there an easier way to toggle off people's hands unless they are the ones asking a question? 4. Can the VR ava VR be resized ie. smaller? Kind regards Edd Edwin Kyi Multimedia Learning Experiences Developer (CTL) Join the VR Society, see: https://www.guildofstudents.com/organisation/ubvr/ +44 121 415 9049 University of Birmingham Collaborative Teaching Laboratory (CTL) Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT www.birmingham.ac.uk<http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/> Twitter<https://twitter.com/unibirmingham> / Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/unibirmingham/> / Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/unibirmingham> / LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-birmingham/> [University of Birmingham logo.]<https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx> For the most up-to-date-information, visit: www.birmingham.ac.uk<http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/>
Hi Edd, Our primary VR expert is traveling and may not be as available, but in the meantime, I will try to address some of these concerns, see interleaved below:
On Mar 20, 2025, at 4:54 AM, Edwin Kyi via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
Hello, We have been experimenting with the Meeting command in VR and are seeing some real uses for guided teaching sessions. We’re looking for ways to finesse set up for these sessions and I wonder if you could help with some technical questions we have:
• What main optimisations of the settings would you recommend for smoother running in VR?
In general, the simpler/smaller the data and fewer meeting participants will lower the demands, but I imagine you're already well aware of that. Specifically, however, besides showing fewer/smaller things and having a smaller group of people: the "vr" command already automatically limits the total atom and bond triangles to 1 million each from the default of 5 million and switches to simple lighting (vr command option simplifyGraphics true), <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr> ...but you could try further reducing triangles with the "graphics quality" command <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/graphics.html#quality> Ribbon and surface triangles are set separately, see "graphics quality" (link above) and for molecular surfaces, the "gridspacing" parameter of "surface" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/surface.html#parameters> ...and for volumes (density maps) and their isosurfaces, see "volume" options "step" and "region" and "zone" to limit sampling and display extent <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#sampling> <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#dimensions> <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#zone> The practical limitation to small numbers of participants is discussed here: <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/meeting.html#limitations>
• Is there an easy way to toggle off all people's interactions with the model with one command except the host?
I can't think of any way to do this. Although the meeting command has a "host" machine, as far as I know all the participants are treated as equal to one another. One possibly relevant thing is that you can assign a button to lock all the other buttons, and then tell the participants to deploy this function. See "vr button" command with function "button lock" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr-button>
• Same as Q2, is there an easier way to toggle off people’s hands unless they are the ones asking a question?
Similar to the above, I can't think of any way to do this.
• Can the VR ava VR be resized ie. smaller?
I'm not sure I understand this question, but if you mean how big the model(s) appear, maybe this can be adjusted with "vr" option "roomPosition" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr> Maybe others will respond with some better answers. I hope this helps, Elaine ----- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. UCSF Chimera(X) team Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco
Hi Edd, The ChimeraX VR meetings were developed for two or a few researchers to look at data together. They were not intended for teaching so don't expect that to work well. The largest meetings I have tried are with 4 people although colleagues at the NIH have tried 8 or 10. Here are a few ideas. 1) ChimeraX can work with VR or you can use VR headsets standalone with molecular models sent from ChimeraX. Standalone is simpler since you don't need a Windows PC for each headset, and models can be preloaded on a headset so no computer is needed, just the headsets. Meetings are supported. See the LookSee ChimeraX web page for details. 2) Both PC VR or standalone VR can use passthrough video so the students see the room. This can be more comfortable. 3) With PC VR there is the button lock command to disable hand controller buttons. There is no capability to disable buttons with standalone LookSee. 4) The commercial Nanome VR app might better handle meetings with 10 or more people. 5) It is possible to hide hand controllers with PC VR, they are just ordinary models in ChimeraX and the hide command can hide them. 6) There isn't any capability for a meeting host to control buttons and cone visibility of other participants although some programming or setup script for the participants could do that. 7) The typical PC VR meeting setup where you give the meeting a name and others join using that name goes through our server in California to synchronize what participants see. That will probably incur large delays (1 second). It would be more responsive if the participant connect directly to the host without using the meeting names. Standalone LookSee VR only does this kind of direct connection. 8) I usually use standalone LookSee VR with hand gestures (no controllers) and passthrough video which is the simplest setup. 9) My NIH colleagues have sometimes used Enduvo VR which is designed for teaching. They use molecular models written by ChimeraX (e.g. GLTF format) with Enduvo. I could go on for another 10 pages of suggestions, mostly because the ChimeraX and LookSee VR are not designed for teaching so there are countless problems you will hit. In general VR software of all types tends to be underdeveloped, prototypes. Because of that I think it is important to choose VR tools that focus on your use case, even those are going to be hard to use and buggy. So mostly I would advise you look for VR tools that emphasize multiuser sessions and control by a single user. Tom
On Mar 21, 2025, at 4:04 AM, Elaine Meng via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
Hi Edd, Our primary VR expert is traveling and may not be as available, but in the meantime, I will try to address some of these concerns, see interleaved below:
On Mar 20, 2025, at 4:54 AM, Edwin Kyi via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
Hello, We have been experimenting with the Meeting command in VR and are seeing some real uses for guided teaching sessions. We’re looking for ways to finesse set up for these sessions and I wonder if you could help with some technical questions we have:
• What main optimisations of the settings would you recommend for smoother running in VR?
In general, the simpler/smaller the data and fewer meeting participants will lower the demands, but I imagine you're already well aware of that. Specifically, however, besides showing fewer/smaller things and having a smaller group of people: the "vr" command already automatically limits the total atom and bond triangles to 1 million each from the default of 5 million and switches to simple lighting (vr command option simplifyGraphics true), <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr>
...but you could try further reducing triangles with the "graphics quality" command <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/graphics.html#quality>
Ribbon and surface triangles are set separately, see "graphics quality" (link above) and for molecular surfaces, the "gridspacing" parameter of "surface" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/surface.html#parameters>
...and for volumes (density maps) and their isosurfaces, see "volume" options "step" and "region" and "zone" to limit sampling and display extent <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#sampling> <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#dimensions> <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#zone>
The practical limitation to small numbers of participants is discussed here: <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/meeting.html#limitations>
• Is there an easy way to toggle off all people's interactions with the model with one command except the host?
I can't think of any way to do this. Although the meeting command has a "host" machine, as far as I know all the participants are treated as equal to one another. One possibly relevant thing is that you can assign a button to lock all the other buttons, and then tell the participants to deploy this function. See "vr button" command with function "button lock" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr-button>
• Same as Q2, is there an easier way to toggle off people’s hands unless they are the ones asking a question?
Similar to the above, I can't think of any way to do this.
• Can the VR ava VR be resized ie. smaller?
I'm not sure I understand this question, but if you mean how big the model(s) appear, maybe this can be adjusted with "vr" option "roomPosition" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr>
Maybe others will respond with some better answers. I hope this helps, Elaine ----- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. UCSF Chimera(X) team Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco
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participants (3)
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Edwin Kyi -
Elaine Meng -
Tom Goddard