Virtual reality headset with room tracking technology. Experience and develop software utilizing 3D space and handheld tracking.
Useful Apps for the HTC Vive:
Autodesk LIVE: allows users to transform Revit models and step inside their own desings to share and present. It launched in July of 2016, and they've since added virtual reality functionality. ACE professtionals can upload VIM models to the cloud with just one click and interactive visualizations can be published to mobile. This gives clients a better sense of your design early on, so changes can be made with minimal disruption or delay.
Via YouTube (Kalloc Tech)
Fuzor: Instantly transforms Revit or ShetchUp models into virtual reality experiences. This is a great tool for construction vecause it greatly speeds up the process to get designs into VR, allowing users to iterate and improve on their designs.
Enscape is a Revit plug-in that creates a VR walk-through with one click based on your BIM data. There is no need to download or learn how to operate additional software. All materials, geometry and entourage come from your Revit project and can be changed during the VR simulation. This flexibility allows spontaneous presentations with the real-time rendering quality you know from modern games, but from within the architectural design workflow. Combined with the Oculus Rift, customers can virtually walk through your Enscape project and experience it as if it were already built.
Shapespark enables interior designers and architects to create real-time web-based visualizations with physically accurate lighting — perfect for meetings or presentations with clients. The visualizations can be shared via links and support the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, providing users with a stereoscopic 3-D view. Since Shapespark uses WebGL, a web technology supported by default by all modern operating systems and browsers, visualizations can be comfortably explored directly in the browser with no plug-ins required. Unlike static renders, Shapespark allows the viewer to freely enter and walk around a space, examining every detail. As shown here.
Games Engine Supports
Unity
Translating CAD or BIM models into virtual reality experiences used to take considerable time and programming know-how. With the advent of the Unity gaming engine, bringing Revit/3D models into a virtual reality space becomes much easier. Now, any AEC professional can take their Revit model, bring it into Unity and create a VR experience. With a bit of programming knowledge, the VR models can also be heavily customized. This powerful, intuitive and flexible tool ensures rapid iteration and fluid workflow, thus allowing engineers and architects to create stunning interactive walk-throughs and provide clients with a realistic sense of how it would feel to actually live in the simulated environment.
The Unreal Engine
Unreal is a suite of tools for developers that can be used to create games and virtual reality environments. It is free for the architecture industry and is frequently used to visualize spaces and render architectural models in immersive environments. This tool enables engineers and architects to design and build in a virtual reality environment by means of a powerful editor tool-set and the interaction models that have been specifically designed for VR world-building. The outcome is a believable immersive experience built upon natural motions and interactions.
Autodesk Stingray
Released in August 2015, this technology offers AEC professionals an enhanced level of visualization with a simple one-button rendering in Revit. Autodesk Stingray provides an immersive real-time experience between AEC firms and their clients to create BIM-informed 3-D visualizations in 3ds Max. This tool is working to catch up with mainstream game engines Unreal and Unity.
Steam
Steam is an online entertainment platform and community that provides access to over 3,500 games. SteamVS was just released, which is a full-featured, 360-degree, room-scale virtual reality experience consisting of an HTC Vive headset and two wand-shaped controllers. The tracking system is precise and fast and can be used to map a room’s boundaries, which can be included in the VR experience. The controllers make use of haptic thumb pads, which can be split into directional inputs or a number of “buttons.” In the near future, Steam could be used to host AEC content/environments for SteamVR.
Explore Cities with Virtual Reality
Google Earth VR
Geopipe with NYC Open Data https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us/projects/automatic-reconstruction-of-immersive-urban-environments/
Oculus Go is a standalone VR headset that comes with an orientation-tracked controller.
Interesting apps to download in your Oculus Go library:
Wander: Designed for the user to be able to teleport around real life world sites such as The White House in D.C., popular tourist attractions, or universities around the world.
MasterWorks: Journey Through History: An interactive VR museum tour through four of the world's most spectacular historical sites and monuments accompanied by interviews with real experts in their field studying said sites and monuments.
YULIO: An app that allows you to look at room and house designs made by students,; and yours, if you upload your own.
As well as classic fan favorites like YouTube, Google Chrome and more!
Immerse yourself in a virtual world and bring an experience to life! The View-Master® Deluxe VR Viewer has advanced features to enhance your virtual reality experience.
