CC1611

COMMENT
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Comment
Waking up to virtual realities
by David Chadwick
Virtual Reality features in several
articles this issue, reflecting the
maturing of the industry. Looked at as
a whole, though, they illustrate the fact that
there is quite a difference between entry
level VR solutions and the features that you
would expect to find at the professional end
of the technology.
The driver, of course, is the evolution of VR
headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC
Vive, the peaks that 3D digital technology
can now reach, assisted by powerful gaming
processors, and customer demand seeking
the most lifelike and immersive simulations in
VR worlds. Whilst we are stunned by the
scale of what is possible in these virtual
worlds, mirroring our fantasies and driving
our imaginations, it's easy to forget that VR
can be used for more prosaic purposes, and
some of the advanced techniques employed
owe their existence to more simplistic needs.
Virtalis has been involved in Virtual Reality
for some years, developing solutions for the
manufacturing industry that have
foreshadowed some of the developments in
the gaming industry. Pure speculation here,
but what came first - the ability to select and
grasp a spanner and to apply it to a turnable
nut on the 3D mock-up of a vehicle chassis -
or the ability to select and wield a weapon
before advancing on a digital foe in a VR
game? I watched a demonstration of the
former some 10 years ago, and it seems that
the VR gaming industry has caught up in
leaps and bounds in recent years.
It seems that the fidelity of a VR experience,
the level of detail and interactivity - whether
it's manipulating a virtual model or exploring
a game environment - is largely determined
by how much you are willing to pay for the
experience and what you want to achieve
with it. The HTC Vive, for example, starts at
around £759 whereas Sony’s PSVR is £350 -
and sold out everywhere this Christmas. A
sign of VR things to come?
At a most modest level, Graphisoft has
enabled its users to download an app to a
smartphone which can then be placed in a
Google Cardboard viewer, so that the user
can wander through 3D building models at
will using the BIMx viewer. It allows the user
to take measurements, climb stairs, and view
the model in different modes - a simplified
way for, say, architects to show their designs
to clients in order to give them a sense of
what a project will look like.
And then, at the higher end of the VR scale,
we have Virtalis with its VR4CAD, which gives
users the opportunity to wander through a
building model, but one they can interact
with, opening doors and windows and
changing features, materials and textures. It
provides an ideal collaboration or operational
tool for maintenance staff who can virtually
climb a gantry in a process plant, turn a valve
wheel and watch as pressure in a boiler
mounts or declines.
These are just two examples at different
ends of the VR scale - but not for long, as a
number of new apps are emerging that
bridge this particular virtual gap. WakingApp,
for example, featured in this issue's news
pages, enables Autodesk Revit & Fusion 360
designs to be converted to augmented
reality and virtual reality experiences and
promises a degree of interactivity, such as
altering colours, animating objects etc.
Of course, a lot will depend on how much
effort has gone into preparing a model to
allow viewers to explore it in VR, and interact
with every feature. Virtalis, for example, will
tell you that that is not an easy task - hence
the (to date) limited range of CAD
applications that they have set up for the full
VR experience.
The floodgates have been opened,
though, and the evolution will proceed
apace as companies strive to master this
emerging market. Perhaps we can expect to
see more representation from companies
involved in VR in future Construction
Computing Awards? In the meantime be
sure to check out our special round-up of
the 2016 awards in this issue!
4 November/December 2016