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Hierarchy

Hierarchy​

To take advantage of the automatic creation of options inside the configurator, it is important to properly prepare and organize your 3D scene. The automatic conversion relies heavily on grouping objects together or placing them under empty/NULL nodes and following a specific naming convention in the outliner.

Expivi works with naming conventions for certain functions. You can find a list below of all the naming conventions and the corresponding functions. All conventions start with the function name, followed by a lower dash “_”. Next comes the name of the group you are working on. This should be a clear name that corresponds to what is in the group. To close the naming convention, type “_e”. The “e” stands for ‘end’ and closes the loop; everything typed afterwards will not be taken into account.

Question​

A question is used to ask the customer for specifications on what they need. This is often used to showcase changes in the model. Someone could, for example, use a question to showcase different tabletop shapes. A question can never sit directly inside another question, and would always need an option in between.

The prefix of a question would be “cat”. If we want to add a question in 3D, it would look like the following example:

“cat_[group name]_e”

Option​

Within a question, you of course also need some options. Once you create the nodes for the question, you should always parent these under your question. This way, Expivi knows where the options should go. In these options, you should add the mesh that you want to have shown when this option is selected. You can also leave your option empty; in this case, nothing will be shown in this position.

The prefix of an option would be “opt”. If we want to add an option in 3D, it would look like the following example:

“opt_[option name]_e”

Material group​

A material group would be needed if you want to give the end user the option to change the color/material of an object. By grouping objects in 3D, you can have these change materials within Expivi. On import, this will also create a material group in the product itself, which will store the materials.

The prefix of a material group would be “mat”. If we want to add a material group in 3D, it would look like the following example:

“mat_[material group name]_e”

Offset group​

An offset group can be used to move a group of objects to specific locations or turn them in certain directions. This can be managed in the rules. All objects inside an offset group will use the pivot point of the offset group node itself.

The prefix of an offset group would be “off”. If we want to add an offset group in 3D, it would look like the following example:

“off_[material group name]_e”

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ID and References​

If a certain object is present multiple times within one export you can optimize this using ID nodes and Reference nodes. By placing one object in an ID node you can Reference these by placing empty nodes/groups on other locations using the same group name. You will first need to create your ID node by doing the following.

The prefix of an ID group would be “id”. If we want to add an ID group in 3D, it would look like the following example:

“id_[group name]_e”

After doing this, you can create reference nodes by creating empty nodes and doing the following.

The prefix of a reference group would be “ref”. If we want to add a reference group in 3D, it would look like the following example:

“ref_[same group name]_e”

Product reference​

If you want to use previously set up products in your next configuration, you can also reference these in a different scene by doing the following.

The prefix of a product reference group would be “product”. If we want to add a product reference group in 3D, it would look like the following example:

“product_[ProductID]_e”

The product ID can be found in the product catalogue of expivi behind the product name.

Example of a finished hierarchy​

This product has 2 categories: cubes and spheres. Each has 2 options, ‘Big’ and ‘Small’. Both options have 4 material groups assigned to them. Uploading this to Expivi will result in these options:

Cubes → 1 – BigCubes, 2 – Smallcubes

Spheres → 1 – BigSpheres. 2 – Smallspheres

Besides the options, all 4 materials can be edited separately thanks to MatGroups. For instance, changing the ‘’Blue’’ material within Expivi’s material editor will result in all blue shapes changing at the same time.