simbol

simbol

Easily create social virtual worlds that anyone can interact with using Virtual Personas, a global identity system where people own their identities.

Quick Start

Install via npm

npm install --save simbol

Then import it using ES2015 Modules, CommonJS or with a <script> tag:

import Simbol from 'simbol';
const Simbol = require('simbol');
<script src="./node_modules/simbol/build/simbol.script.js"></script>

And finally, create a new Simbol instance and initialise it:

const config = {
	scene: {
		canvas: document.querySelector('canvas'),
		sceneToLoad: 'path/to/my/scene.gltf'
	}
};
const simbol = new Simbol(config); // If you're loading the ES Module or the CommonJS Module
// or
const simbol = new Simbol.default(config); // If you're loading simbol.script.js

simbol.init();

Configuration object

Simbol accepts several configuration parameters detailed below:

hand

string, default: 'left'

The main user's hand. It's value can be either 'left' or 'right'

locomotion

boolean, default true

Whether Simbol should provide a default locomotion system

interactions

boolean, default true

Whether Simbol should provide a default interaction system

scene

object

All configuration properties related to setting up the scene

render

boolean, default: true

Whether it needs to take of Three.JS rendering by setting up a renderer and a camera. If this is set to true, config.scene.camera and config.scene.renderer should not be provided

animate

boolean, default: true

Whether Simbol should start and control the render loop

sceneToLoad

THREE.Scene|string, required

Either a THREE.Scene to be added, or a path to the .gltf/.glb file containing the scene

canvas

HTMLCanvasElement

Canvas element where the scene will be rendered. This should only be provided if config.scene.render is true

renderer

THREE.Renderer

If you're rendering on your own, Simbol needs access to your renderer. This should only be provided if config.scene.render is false

camera

THREE.Camera

If you're rendering on your own, Simbol needs access to your camera. This should only be provided if config.scene.render is false

virtualPersona

object

All configuration properties related to setting up the Virtual Persona

signIn

boolean, default: true

Whether Simbol should attempt to sign the person in on #init

virtualPersona.multiVP

object|boolean

All configuration properties related to setting up the MultiVP component. This can be set to false if your site takes care of the multiuser experience

instantiate

boolean, default: true

Whether multiVP should be instantiated at the same time as Simbol. It will trigger the permission dialog to access the microphone, so you could might want to defer this to later

socketURL

string, default: 'ws://127.0.0.1'

The URL to your WebSocket server

socketPort

string|number, default: 8091

The port for your WebSocker server

channelName

string, default: 'default'

The desired channel name to use for the WebRTC social experience

peer

object, default: {trickle: true, objectMode: true}

Configuration object for simple-peer

Example Configuration Object

{
	hand: 'right',
	locomotion: true,
	virtualPersona: {
		signIn: false,
		multiVP: {
			socketURL: 'wss://yourdomain/ws',
			socketPort: '80',
			channelName: 'coolchannel',
			config: {
				iceServers: [
					{urls:'stun:stun.l.google.com:19302'},
					{urls:'stun:stun1.l.google.com:19302'},
					{
						urls: 'turn:yourdomain:7788',
						username: 'testname',
						credential: 'testpassword'
					}
				]
			}
		}
	},
	scene: {
		render: true,
		animate: true,
		canvas: document.querySelector('canvas'),
		sceneToLoad: 'path/to/cool/scene.gltf',
		renderer: new THREE.Renderer(), // Not necessary as render is true
		camera: new THREE.PerspectiveCamera() // Not necessary as render is true
	}
}

Full API

You can check out the API in our JSDoc

Third party libraries

Currently, simbol is dependent on several third party libraries:

• simple-peer: Helper for WebRTC
• Three.js: Most used WebGL library
• Three.VRControls: VR Controls helper from Three.JS
• Three.VREffect: WebVR helper to render to an HMD
• three-bmfont-text: Three.JS helper to render text
• WebVR Polyfill: Polyfill for mobile devices
• uport-connect: Underlying identity system that Virtual Personas is currently based on

Contributing

Check out the Contribution guide! If you have any questions, join our community

License

This program is free software and is distributed under an MIT License.