The non-linear course editor

The ‘Non-linear editor’ button on the course page will open a new page showing the editor. The content of a course can be made using so-called nodes. These nodes can be connected with connection lines and the entire collection of nodes and their connection is usually called a node graph.

In the app, each node triggers a scene. Each scene is a 3D world consisting of some 360 content (a 360 image or 360 video) and in case of a Scenario Question node, also some answer images.

A non-linear course always requires a starting point, therefore the ‘start’ node is already created and visible in the editor. The node that will be connected to this start node will be the first 360 image/video or question that will show in the app when the course is started.

The node editor to create non-linear courses

There is a toolbar on the left. With this toolbar one can upload media (the cloud button), create (the plus button), duplicate (the layers button) or delete (the recycle bin button) nodes. Or zoom the node graph in or out (the magnifying glass buttons) for a better overview of the graph.

To create a new node, press the plus button. There are four types of nodes to pick from and these will be explained in the next section in these tutorials. After selecting for example the ‘360 image’ node, a node (the purple box) will appear on the node graph. It is highlighted with a cyan outline to show that this node is currently selected. 

Example of the start node connected to a 360 image node

Every node can be dragged to a different position and also the start node can be re-positioned if necessary. So, nodes can be positioned and grouped according to how the instructor sees fit.

There are multiple node types and their parameters (the white buttons inside the purple box) of every node type will be slightly different. The node types will be thoroughly explained in the next section. However, they share some common functionality too. To connect the output connector of the Start node (the white box on the right side of the ‘Start’ node), click on it, hold the mouse button down and drag the line to the input connector of the ‘360 image’ node (the white box on the left side of the ‘360’ node). When the red line stays between the two nodes and the input and output connector turn cyan, it means that the connection is correct and created. The connector on the left side of a node is always an input connector and the connector(s) – as there can be multiple – on the right side are the output connector(s). Only connections between an input and an output are possible.

These connections between nodes is how the flow of a non-linear course is determined. An existing connection can be modified by clicking on the output connector again and dragging it to a new input connector or somewhere on the gray canvas to completely remove it.

Example of several nodes sequentially connected

Nodes can also be removed. First make sure the right node is selected. The currently selected node is always highlighted by a cyan outline. Then by pressing the ‘recycle bin’ button in the toolbar on the left or by pressing the DEL button on your keyboard, the node can be deleted. In a similar fashion a selected node can be duplicated by pressing the ‘duplicate’ button in the toolbar. All the parameters of the original node are duplicated along. So if an environment was set, or there were scene elements present, all these will be duplicated in the new node as well. This can be useful when different questions have almost similar content and can help the productivity to quickly duplicate similar questions.

Finally, a course always needs at least one ‘end’ node to let the app know that the course is properly completed. Multiple ‘end’ nodes can be added to the node graph as perhaps the question paths in the non-linear course will branch out in deep and complex structures.

We make use of cookies on this website. A cookie is a simple small file that is sent along with pages from this website [and / or Flash applications] and is stored by your browser on the hard drive of your computer. The information stored therein can be sent back to our servers on a subsequent visit.