Exercise - Author a guide in the HoloLens app

  • 5 minutes

Before you can start this exercise, you must have the following prerequisites in place:

  • You have a Dynamics 365 Guides subscription
  • The Guides solution is installed and configured.
  • You have a user set up with appropriate role and permission.
  • Dynamics 365 Guides PC app is installed.
  • You have completed the Exercise - Author a guide in the PC app unit in this module.

Scenario

You will play the role of an author that needs to finish authoring a guide that is already configured in PC.

Detailed steps

Guides on HoloLens is designed to be easy to use, even when users’ hands are full. All the interaction, with the exception of placing holograms in space, can be performed with gaze and dwell.

  1. Sign in to the Guides HoloLens app, You must use the same credentials as those used in Exercise - Author a guide in the PC app, so that you can retrieve your content.

  2. Find and open the guide you created in the PC by gazing at the circular button on the left side of the panel.

  3. Select Author.

  4. Follow the instructions and place the default holographic anchor.

    If you use a HoloLens 2, you can either grab the hologram directly, or use hand rays. To use hand rays, just raise your arm and open your palm. You will see a ray coming from your hand and will be able to select the holographic anchor with it. This will work the same way for any other holograms in the guide.

    When the hologram is selected, a transparent white sphere will show up around it. That’s the signal that you can now grab it. You do not need to wait for the transparent sphere to show up if you grab it directly.

  5. Move the hologram and place it in an area that can be easily identified by subsequent users that will have to reposition the anchor. They will need to reposition the anchor in the exact same way as you do to see the hologram you place the same way as you do.

  6. To rotate the hologram, grab it directly or indirectly with hand rays and use the blue handles that are attached to the transparent sphere when the model is selected.

  7. When the anchor is placed, confirm by either:

    • Gazing at the left circular area of the Confirm button on the step card.
    • Air tapping when gazing anywhere on the Confirm button.
    • Using dwell with hand rays targeting the circular area on the left of the Confirm button.
    • Air tapping when using hand ray anywhere on the Confirm button.

    Note

    With HoloLens 2, hand rays will always take priority over gaze when pointing at the instruction card.

  8. On the first step, the Next spatial trigger is available in the library.

  9. Instantiate the spatial trigger by air tapping on the bin where it seats.

  10. Move, rotate, and place the hologram where you see fit. This hologram is a spatial trigger, so it’s important that it’s big enough to be operated comfortably by operators.

  11. Scale the hologram using the slider on the right side.

  12. To clarify how to operate that spatial trigger, let’s add another hologram to that step. You can add holograms from the 3D toolkit directly in HoloLens, even if it has not been assigned when using the PC app.

  13. Air tap on one of the empty bins below the step card and navigate the menus to select one of the holographic hands available – the one pointing.

  14. Instantiate that hologram in the world and place it above the spatial trigger, pointing at it, to inform the operator that this hologram can be Pressed.

  15. Air tap or directly push the Edit menu button on HoloLens 2 to access additional settings for the hologram.

  16. Assign a style to make it semi-transparent.

  17. At the bottom of the step card, above the library, grab the gem and place it next to the holographic hand. That will create a dotted line showing operators where to focus.

  18. Exit the guide and reopen it as an operator to try out the branching step and the spatial trigger. As an author, you should always test your guide.

This is the end of our exercise. You learned about anchoring content on HoloLens, placed models that had been assigned and inserted new models that were not initially assigned from the PC, as well as place the gem to create the dotted line.

Now that you understand the basics of how to author guides, continue using the PC and HoloLens applications to build guides that match real business processes. You can also see Overview of authoring a guide in Dynamics 365 Guides, if you have any questions about how to proceed.