Getting started with the 3dEYE Cloud VMS Platform
Welcome to the 3dEYE platform. This walk-through will help you understand how our platform works, how to get started, what features are available to you, and where and how you can access different services. On this page, you will find links to useful resources, articles with instructions, and links to download the required files to get you started.
3dEYE Architecture
3dEYE VMS has 3 different Portals:
- Admin Portal: https://admin.3deye.me/
- Video Portal: https://portal.3deye.me/
- Monitoring Station: https://monitoring.3deye.app/
You have an option to co-brand each of the above portals. This will allow you to modify the login page and interface colors of the video portal to match your company's colors. You can have unique branding for each of your customers as well as a separate branding for your main integrator account.
Admin Portal
Admin Portal acts as the backend Portal for 3dEYE. Integrators can add new Customers or Sub-Integrators and manage all aspects of the client's lifecycle through the Admin Portal. Customers can create different users for their accounts and can define the level of access for every person. There are no limits on the number of users you can create; by default, we allow up to 10,000 simultaneous viewers for the same camera.
Most of the Admin portal menus are built as spreadsheets and can be sorted and searched just like any regular spreadsheet. Every table will have its own columns, which can be modified and sorted individually.
Dashboard
Every time you visit the Admin portal, you will be greeted by the Dashboard page. This page is common in both Integrator and Customer Level Interfaces. The Integrator level displays statistics for all of its customers, while individual customers view statistics for their own account only. To view statistics for a different date range, choose start and end dates and click the Show button.
To view statistics in a graphical form, use the Charts button. This will open a new page with camera-by-camera statistics showing overall storage, traffic, and clip duration accumulated in the past 3 months. On these graphs, you can limit the data range and view the statistics for a selected camera and selected dates.
User Levels and Types
There are two levels of clients that you can create in our system:
Integrator Level users:
- An integrator is a partner who can connect new Customers to the 3dEYE services. This is a top-level user who has control over all other types of users. Integrator can create new users of all types, modify existing users, and set permissions to control access to the Admin and Video portals, as well as control access to billing modules.
- A manager is a user on the integrator level and can be created by the integrator to help with customer management tasks. Managers have the same level of access as an integrator does, with the only exception - a manager cannot delete or edit integrator users, while the integrator can delete managers.
Note: Integrator-level users can not log in to the Video portal. This limitation is intentional, and it is intended for the protection of the privacy of the end customer since the activity of the integrator-level user is hidden from the logs on the customer level. There is no super admin role in the 3dEYE platform and only customer-level users who have been given permission to view cameras can access the video feeds from the cameras to view footage from the cameras. Thus, if an integrator or a manager needs to review footage from a specific camera, they will have to create a tech support user on the customer level and use this user to access the video portal.
Customer Level users:
The user's menu allows customers and integrators to create users with the required role types, having either limited or full access to the video and admin portals. User lists can be sorted by any of the columns, and you can configure which columns are visible from the Columns dropdown menu. The same sorting principles apply to all tables in the admin portal.
You can create two user types, and the third, the owner type, is a system type and is created when a new customer is added. Each customer account can have just one owner-type user. You can assign any admin-type user as a new owner. When this is done, the previous owner user will become an admin.
- The owner always has access to all cameras under the customer's account unless access to the admin portal for the whole customer is restricted by the integrator.
- Admin is a user with access to the Admin portal. This user can view and configure cameras and alert settings according to the permissions assigned in their roles. Admins can add new cameras and modify the cameras according to the permissions that were granted by the customer or integrator.
- Guard is a user without access to the Admin portal. Can only view assigned cameras through the video portal or mobile app, create clips, use PTZ controls, and/or share cameras with others according to the assigned role permissions.
To learn more about users, please visit User types and roles↗️
Menu Roles
On the customer level, two types of roles can be created - an Admin Role that can access the admin portal and video portal, and a Guard Role that can access only the video portal.
The role determines cameras and camera functions that a user can access and/or control. Each camera has 6 permissions that can be assigned to a role. The same camera can be added to multiple roles, and different permissions can be set for each camera parameter under each role.
Admin role allows the user to access the Admin portal and, from there, assist the owner (of a customer account) to manage cameras and other users. Admin users will be able to control only those cameras that were assigned to them, and can add new cameras to the system.
The guard role allows the user to access the Video portal and view streams from the assigned cameras, save and download clips, and share the cameras. The ability to create and download clips and the ability to share can be restricted for specific cameras.
NOTE: Clips created by guards cannot be deleted by other guards, even if the other guard has permission to Save the Clip for the selected camera. Clips created by a guard can be deleted either by the same guard or by the Admin user who has permission to Save Clip for the same camera, or by the Owner.
User 1 is assigned Role 1 and can view and save clips from Camera 1; view and share Camera 2. Being a Guard type role, this user does not have access to the Admin Portal.
Users 2 and 3 can view, configure, and save clips from Camera 2; view, use PTZ controls, and configure Camera 3. Additionally, User 3 can share and save clips from Camera 3. Being an Admin type role, this user can access the Admin Portal.
Users 4 can only view Cameras 3 and 4. Being a Guard type role, this user does not have access to the Admin Portal.
To learn more about roles, please visit User types and roles↗️
Customers (Visible to Integrator Level)
Menu Customers shows a list of all current customers and integrators. To view customer properties, click on the customer name. The table is not refreshed in real-time but is rather read every time you open it or use the Refresh button, so if someone else has changed something in the column while the table was opened on your screen, you will need to refresh the content to see those changes.
To view deleted customers and integrators, use the Deleted Customers tab.
To modify which columns are shown, click on the Columns button and choose those that you wish to see:
You can change how many entries are shown on a single page:
You can sort the table using any column, just press on the arrows to assign the selected column as the main column and sort either descending or ascending:
Start typing in the column header to search for the specific ID/name/email/etc. You can use partial names and type partial values in multiple column headers to shortlist the table. Use "x" to clear the typed text:
Use the Reset Filters button to reset entered filters from all columns at once.
Use the Reset Settings button to restore default table settings.
Manager (Visible to Integrator Level)
Menu managers show all users with a manager access level, including integrators. There are three types of managers:
- Operational manager
- Billing manager
- Sales manager
To change a manager's password, delete or review activity logs for a manager, simply click on the name from the table and choose the appropriate tab. From the User tab, the current role can be deleted, and a new role can be assigned to the selected manager.
From the Security tab, the new password can be assigned to the manager's account, and the manager can be disabled to restrict access to the system.
There are two options for how the password can be changed:
1. Without notification to the manager
2. With a notification email, a new password will be included in the email.
To create a new Manager, use the Add button. In the window that will appear, provide the name and email of the new manager, then choose a role and create a secure password. Alternatively, you can select to generate a temporary password that will be sent in the invitation email, and then the manager will be required to change the password on the first login.
Cameras
Menu Cameras Integrator Level
Menu Cameras on the integrator level show cameras that are assigned to all your direct customers, but not to the customers of your sub-integrators. To view cameras assigned to the customers registered under your sub-integrators, please log in with the operational manager↗️ of that sub-integrator.
Menu cameras will open on the P&P cameras tab. This table will show only P&P cameras for all your customers. To view ONVIF and Generic cameras, switch to the Customer Cameras tab. To view the history of deleted cameras, use the Deleted Cameras tab.
Use the Add button to register a new camera. When the Add button is used from the integrator level menu, you will have to choose a customer to whom the camera will be assigned. When the Add button is used from the customer level, the camera will be automatically assigned to the customer from whom the Add button was pressed.
The first step will ask you to either choose a customer to whom you want to assign a new camera, or you can choose the Your P&P Cameras option to pre-register the camera in our system for quick assignment in the future.
This option allows you to create a stock of cameras in our system. Such cameras will be listed as Registered in the table; you won't be charged any monthly fee for such cameras until they are assigned to a customer.
Preregistering cameras decreases the number of steps needed when the camera is installed to just two steps:
1. Choose a customer to whom the camera will be assigned
2. Choose a billing plan
To view the camera's properties, click on the camera name. This table, as any other table in the Admin portal, is not refreshed in real-time but is rather read every time you open it or use the Refresh button; thus, if the camera state changed after the table was opened, this change won't be shown automatically. To refresh the status of cameras in the table, use the Refresh button.
Menu Cameras Customer Level
There are 3 sub-menus for cameras: Cameras, Shared Cameras, and Deleted Cameras. Use menu tabs to switch between them. The camera list can be searched by Camera Type, Camera ID, Video Status, User, and date when it was modified. To add a new camera, use the Add button. To view camera properties, click on the camera name in the list.
The thumbnail shows a recent snapshot from the camera. For cameras without archives, a generic symbol is displayed. A checkmark indicates that the camera is enabled and will be recorded according to the billing plan if it is connected to the internet. The crossed circle indicates that the camera is disabled, and footage from the camera won't be streamed or archived if the camera is accessible for the platform.
Adding a New Camera
Go to the Cameras Tab. Click the Add button. In the next pop-up window, select how you wish to connect the new camera.
Add P2P Camera
The easiest and most secure method to add a camera is using a P2P (peer-to-peer) connection. In this case, data directly flows to the cloud server over HTTPS and does not require the setup of a public IP address for the camera. To learn specific steps to add a camera using the P&P method, please visit this page↗️.
Note: Using the Push method is preferred. Even in the event that an internet provider changes the IP address or the camera is moved to a new location, access to the camera and video stream will be preserved, and no adjustments to camera settings in the admin portal will be needed.
Add an ONVIF camera
This is a more involved and less secure method. It requires a manual port forwarding configuration on the client’s side. HTTP and RTS ports should be opened on the router. Using this method will preserve access to ONVIF-compliant features of the camera, allowing you to modify camera settings directly from the admin portal. Access to ONVIF-compliant camera analytics is preserved.
To learn more about the ONVIF method, please visit this page↗️.
Note: In the event that the client’s internet provider changes the client’s IP address, camera access can be interrupted, and manual adjustments to the access path will be required. Services like DynDNS can be used to avoid connection interruptions when the public IP address of the camera is changed by the ISP.
Add a Generic Camera
This method is used for any camera that can not be added using P2P or ONVIF methods. This method requires only the RTSP port to be forwarded, but if the camera has an HTTP/service port, it can be added as well, and if the camera is sending event information through this port, then the event will be displayed in the video portal; otherwise, no events will be registered and thus shown for cameras added using the Generic option. A specific path to the camera video stream has to be entered after the port number. The platform won't be able to control such cameras, and thus, only the Pay-as-you-go option is available for cameras added using the Generic option.
The only requirement for the camera to be able to add it using RTSP or RTMP connection is the H.264 encoding of the video stream. The quality of the stream has to be configured using the camera's own web UI.
Note: In the event that the client’s internet provider changes the client’s IP address, camera access can be interrupted, and manual adjustments to the access path will be required. Services like DynDNS can be used to avoid connection interruptions when the public IP address is changed by the ISP.
Alerts
Menu Alerts Integrator Level
Menu Alerts on the Integrator level will allow you to create alerts for system events that will be delivered to your main integrator email inbox or to your registered managers. From here, you can create rules to have alerts for all of your customers delivered to a single inbox rather than multiple emails for every customer.
To create a new alert, click on the Create System Event button and choose a customer for whom you want to create the alert. On the next page, configure parameters for this alert:
The notification filtering option will aggregate alerts into one notification rather than sending out a new alert each time there is a problem with one of the selected cameras.
Menu Alerts Customer Level
Menu Alerts on the Customer level will allow you to create alerts for both sensor and system events. Alerts created on this level can be delivered to users registered under selected customers only. Alerts can be delivered either as email alerts or as push notifications if server analytics is used as a trigger.
To start creating a new alert or to edit an existing alert, first open the Alerts tab on the customer menu level and select the Alerts from the sub-menu, and select either Create Sensor (1 on screenshot)or Create System Event (2 on screenshot) buttons to create a new alert or click on one of the existing alerts to edit its properties.
To receive notification about motion events, line-crossing, intrusion, analytics, or any other sensor events, click on the Create Sensor Event button. Then select the Alert Type from the drop-down menu.
To learn more about how to create a new alert, please visit this page↗️
Logs
Menu Logs Integrator Level
Under the Logs menu on the Integrator level, all manager and integrator activity can be reviewed.
The table can be searched in three different scenarios:
1. By Count will show either the last entries from the selected time or the most recent entries to the selected time.
2. By Time will show entries for the most recent specified number of hours.
3. By Period will show all logs for the selected time.
To view details of any of the log entries, click on it.
Menu Logs Customer Level
Under the Logs menu on the Customer level, all activity can be reviewed for all users of the customer.
Same as the Integrator Level, the table can be shown in three different scenarios:
1. By Count will show either the last entries from the selected time or the most recent entries to the selected time.
2. By Time will show entries for the most recent specified number of hours.
3. By Period will show all logs for the selected time.
To view details of any of the log entries, click on it.
Billing Module
In addition to accommodating a lot of the technical administration tasks in the cloud, 3dEYE has also developed a set of tools to aid your business administration needs. The Billing tab in the admin portal menu is accessible by Integrators, Billing, and Sales Manager users to maximize collaboration amongst your team. This module is meant to help you manage all your VSaaS accounting with respect to the cloud services used by your clients. All your customers' and Integrator's monthly invoices and consumption breakdowns will be automatically generated each month. Integrate any 3rd party credit card payment processing service to charge your clients' credit cards directly within this module. You can also integrate your accounting system of choice to create a robust financial management solution for your growing recurring revenue business. 3dEYE Billing module is meant to assist with your client billing every step of the way: email each client their monthly invoice with a single click, manage the paid status of each invoice, customize individual invoices with optional additional billable items (for example, additional services provided or hardware sales), and generate detailed cloud consumption breakdowns with the option to download.
But more than this, the Billing module is equipped with comprehensive revenue generation tools to enable you to mark up the cost of all cloud storage and add-on plans, as well as control Billing Options such as setting the tax rate. Similar to being able to partition unique cloud subscription plans to Integrators, each one of your clients can be set unique prices for add-ons, and a preset tax rate, among other variables of their billing.
API Keys
API methods allow you to integrate your own or third-party software with our platform. Currently, we have over 75 methods that allow you to create, modify, and delete various components of our platform using your own interface, with the ability to automate routine tasks.
For the API methods to work, you will need to obtain the correct API key for the correct customer level. Each integrator and customer has a unique API key, and their values can be found from the API Keys menu or using your integrator API key and the Get API Key method from our collection.
To access documentation and view your integrator API key, open the profile menu and select the API menu from there:
You can rename the API keys of your customers by clicking on them and editing the name field.
To disable API methods for a specific customer, use the Enable/Disable slider:
Video Portal
The Video Portal allows you and your customers to view live streams from cameras, review events and archives, and search for recognized objects and faces. A video overview of the Video portal interface can be viewed here↗️.
User Interface
The user interface consists of:
1. Top menu bar
2. Camera controls
3. Bottom toolbar
4. Thumbnails
5. Timeline
Top Menu Bar
Camera Controls
To reveal the camera toolbar, simply hover the mouse pointer over the camera image. Depending on the camera feature, different buttons will be available.
To learn more about user camera control bar features, please visit this page↗️.