Scenes

A Scene on our dashboard is a container that holds all the participant sessions, all the Dynamic Objects that appear in the scene and an approximation of the scene geometry exported from Unity. Together, this allows you to replay sessions in Session Replay with context about where in your Unity scene the player is engaging with your gameplay.

Concepts

Uploading a Scene to the Cognitive3D dashboard from Unity does two things:

1. Creates this container to hold each Participant's Session Data (Gaze, Fixations, Dynamics, Events, Sensors). The Scene Id is returned to Unity to identify where this Session Data should be sent.
2. Exports and uploaded scene geometry to the Dashboard so you can see Session Data in the context of the scene.

None of your game logic is uploaded to our dashboard. Colliders, trigger volumes, npc paths, audio sources, etc are not represented by this scene geometry.

If your Scene geometry changes during development, or doesn't represent the space the Participant is engaged in, you should create a new Scene Version. This has the same results as uploading a new scene - a new container is created and new geometry is uploaded.

If you have Dynamic Objects in your Scene that change during development, you do not need to create a new Scene Version. See the Dynamic Objects page to see how to upload Dynamic Object Meshes to your scenes.

When should I upload a new version of my scene?

These are the cases when a new version of your Scene is warranted:

• You make a substantial change to the base geometry of your scene.
• You want to make a new, clean separation of data for you scene.
• For example if you were doing test sessions and now want to launch a clean slate for production or deployment.
• You have substantially changed the Dynamic Objects in your scene.
• For example if you changed object names, or removed them altogether, you will see those old objects in the Object List, despite removing them from your Unity scene, since the data has already been sent.

If you simply moved a Dynamic Object in the scene, you do NOT need to re-upload anything.

Scene Manager

Unity SDK 2.3 and above

The Scene Manager is only available in Unity SDK 2.3 and above. In earlier versions, scene export and upload is handled through the Project Setup window and the Preferences window.

The Scene Manager is the central place for managing your scenes in Unity. Open it from the Cognitive3D menu.

It shows a Current Scene panel at the top with the active scene's name, Scene ID, version number, and upload status. The buttons in the Current Scene panel are:

Note

For additive scenes, follow the setup instructions below before exporting.

• Export Scene: Exports the active scene geometry to a local folder.
• Upload Scene: Uploads the exported geometry to the Dashboard as a new version of the scene.
• Update Scene: Uploads and updates the exported geometry of the existing scene version.
• Dashboard (globe icon): Opens the scene directly on the Cognitive3D Dashboard.

All Scenes list

The Scene Manager also shows a list of all tracked scenes in your project. Each scene displays a status indicator:

• Green: Scene has been uploaded to the Dashboard.
• Orange: Scene has been exported locally but not yet uploaded.
• Grey: Scene has not been exported.

Expanding a scene in the list reveals its Scene ID, file path, and version number, along with per-scene action buttons:

• Open: Opens the scene in the Unity Editor and makes it the active scene.
• Export: Exports the scene's geometry to a local folder, preparing it for upload.
• Upload New: Uploads the exported geometry to the Dashboard as a new scene version. Use this when your scene geometry has changed significantly and you want a clean separation of session data from previous versions.
• Update Version: Re-uploads the exported geometry and overwrites the current scene version on the Dashboard. Use this for minor geometry corrections where you don't need to separate historical session data.
• Dashboard (globe icon): Opens the scene directly on the Cognitive3D Dashboard in your browser.
• Remove: Removes the scene from the tracked scenes list and clears its Scene ID from the project. This does not delete any data from the Dashboard.

Additive Scene Loading

When loading a scene in Unity the Session Data will be uploaded using the Scene Id of the last loaded scene. In this situation it does not matter if Dynamic Objects move in one scene or the Participant fixates on a surface in a different scene. All Session Data will be uploaded to the same Dashboard Scene.

Exporting Additive Scenes

There are several ways to export Scene geometry when using multiple scenes. In the examples below we will assume there is a scene called Content and a scene called Environment.

Note

Exporting scenes and managing files can get confusing. Feel free to reach out for assistance. If you have a question or any feedback about our documentation please use the Intercom button in the lower right corner of any web page.

Export both scenes together

The Unity editor supports opening multiple scenes at once - simply drop the Scene asset from the Project Panel onto the Hierarchy panel. Ensure the Content scene is active (the scene name will be bold in the hierarchy). All open scenes will be exported together, regardless of their visibility.

Open the Scene Manager and export and upload the Content scene. Because all open scenes are exported together, the Environment geometry is automatically included in the Content export. You do not need to separately export or upload Environment.

Unity SDK 2.2 and older

Use the Project Setup window > Scene Upload or Preferences instead of the Scene Manager.

Export only one scene

Export just the Environment scene. This is the simplest solution if the contents of the scene with art provide enough context about the space to make useful insights. This approach is useful if there are no Dynamic Objects in your Content scene.

Combine Exported scenes Externally

This concept is to export each scene from Unity and combine them in an external program, such as Windows 3D builder, Blender, or another tool of your choice. It is often not necessary, unless there are overlapping/LOD meshes shared between both scenes.

• Open each scene one at a time in the Scene Manager
  • Export the scene
  • Open it in your 3D program of choice
  • Import the exported GLTF file for that scene
• Save/Export it again as a GLTF into Cognitive3D_SceneExplorerExport/YourSceneName within your project
• In the Scene Manager, remove all other exported scenes and keep only the one that matches Cognitive3D_SceneExplorerExport/YourSceneName

Unity SDK 2.2 and older

Use the Preferences Window > Add Scene Setting to export each scene instead of the Scene Manager.

Note

This can also be a simple way of previewing the contents of your exported file before uploading to the Dashboard. There might be slight differences based on the software.

API Reference

When scenes are uploaded to Cognitive3D Dashboard, the scene ID updates automatically when a new scene loads. However, to manually set or change the tracking scene, use the following function:

// Function to manually set the tracking scene
public void SetTrackingScene()
{
    // Set the tracking scene using the path of the scene you want to track
    Cognitive3D.Cognitive3D_Manager.SetTrackingSceneByPath("Assets/Scenes/SceneName");

    Debug.Log("New tracking scene is set");
}

For example, if you instantiate prefabs to switch VR environments instead of loading new Unity scenes, you can use this function to set the Tracking Scene and distinguish these environments on the Cognitive3D Dashboard.

If you have a question or any feedback about our documentation please use the Intercom button (purple circle) in the lower right corner of any web page or join our Discord.