CPD 24 2014_ Creating Real-time 3D Visualisations _ Features _ Building

8/11/2019 CPD 24 2014_ Creating Real-time 3D Visualisations _ Features _ Building

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Friday26 September 2014

CPD 24 2014: Creating real-time 3D visualisations19 September 2014

This CPD module, sponsored by Unity Technologies, will discuss how real-timevisualisation engines can be used to communicate designs more effectively to clients andstakeholders

How to take this moduleUBMs CPD distance-learning programme is open to anyone seeking todevelop their knowledge and skills. Each module also offers members of professional institutions an opportunity to earn between 30 and 90minutes of credits towards their annual CPD requirement.

This article is accredited by the CPD Certification Service. To earn CPDcredits, read the article and then click the link below to complete your details andanswer the questions. You will receive your results instantly, and if all the questions arecorrectly answered, you will be able to download your CPD certificate straight away.

CPD CREDITS: 30 MINUTESDEADLINE: 31 OCTOBER 2014

This module is sponsored byUnity Technologies

INTRODUCTION

Visualisation techniques are used on building projects to communicate designs andconstruction information to clients, stakeholders, and other members of the project team.

The most commonly used techniques are static images (renderings, either photo-real or schematic) and animated movies. An alternative is to use software programs that wereoriginally designed for computer game developers to create an interactive 3D model, whichallows the user to roam freely around a building or site, creating an immersive experiencewith which the user can interact, much as they might in a game environment. Because thevisualisation is interactive, the developer can provide means for the user to influence the


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environment for example, changing the sun/shadow position, switching between differentmaterials or design alternatives or opening doors, all in real-time.

Real-time interaction creates an incredibly powerful experience for the client or stakeholder, enabling them to engage with the visualisation from every angle. Instead of aprescribed view or route, real-time visualisation enables the client to interact with the modelin their own way and to choose which elements to focus on, literally bringing the project tolife. Architects can communicate their designs much more vividly, involving clients more

closely and enabling them to play a more positive part in the design process. In addition,changes and updates to the model can be made easily, enabling feedback from the clientto be incorporated and shared within minutes. The software also enables real-timerendering, saving time and money in comparison to traditional visualisation techniques.

This CPD will discuss how real-time visualisation engines can be used to communicatedesigns more effectively to clients and stakeholders, focusing on the process of producingand sharing applications and techniques for achieving best results.

Digital design agency NYYVE used Unity to create an award-winning visualisation of thecity of Ottawa, including a detailed 3D model of the Nuovo Condominiums development.The building was placed in its true future site, allowing a 360 view of the neighbourhoodand surroundings, with both day and night versions

HOW REAL-TIME VISUALISATION ENGINES WORK

Real-time visualisation engines enable designers tocreate 3D models, animations, soundsand materials, and use either predefined or custom scripts to make them interactive. Ascript is a list of commands that are executed by a program without user interaction toautomate computing tasks. In real-time visualisations, these can be used to allow users toopen or shut doors, use lifts, and turn lights on or off, for example. A user interface canalso be included, providing on-screen buttons, text or sliders to help the user navigate their way around.

While in the past such software was primarily used to create computer games, it isincreasingly used in sectors such as healthcare, defence and architecture. For example,the Unity platform began life as a game engine, but is now used by organisations fromLEGO to NASA, and by building designers including Gensler, Fosters + Partners, Arup and


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Capita.

Real-time visualisation engines can translate models into a range of formats that can beused by different devices, allowing designers to develop for multiple platformssimultaneously. For example, real-time visualisations can be published as standaloneapplications for desktop computers or laptops, as console games for systems such asPlayStation or Xbox or as apps for mobile devices and tablets, or they can be viewedonline via a web browser.

When produced correctly, interactive techniques can be as graphically compelling as pre-rendered animations. They also provide more flexibility, allowing the incorporation of design changes and the development of custom behaviour. For example, the developer can provide the user with means to influence the environment, such as changing theposition of the sun and shadows, switching between different materials or designalternatives or opening doors, all in real-time. The physics engine built into the platformsimulates the effect of the laws of physics, enabling objects to react to forces such asgravity and to interact with each other: colliding, bouncing, sliding and falling.

NVYVE also created interiors of the Nuovo Condominiums development using Unity, toenable potential buyers to step within their future home years before it was built

PRODUCING REAL-TIME VISUALISATIONS

Published computer games are created by large teams of professional developers. While itis naive to assume that this can be achieved easily, even a small team with limited timecan produce compelling results.

There are typically two points in the design process where real-time visualisation is mostrelevant:

Early on in the design, during exploration of the spatial layout of the project and arough concept can be shared with the building owner. Here, the focus would be onwalking around freely, with a basic facility layout.


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For presentations, either as part of a competition, to sell the design, or as part of amarketing effort to sell the facility to potential buyers. Here, the focus would be oncreating a more polished, vivid experience.

To create a real-time visualisation, the architect must first create a 3D model of the design,preferably with textures assigned. This can be done using most CAD or BIM programmes,such as ArchiCAD, Revit, SketchUp, AutoCAD or Rhino. However, the best results areachieved with the use of additional animation software, such as Autodesk 3ds Max,

Cinema 4D Studio or Autodesk Maya, as an intermediate step. This is then loaded into thereal-time visualisation engine, and further refined to appear more realistic through theaddition of materials or lighting, for example. The model is displayed in real-time: the viewof the model is continuously refreshed, ideally at least 30 times per second. The result issimilar to a 3D computer game, where a player can walk around freely and interact with theenvironment.

An experienced user can transfer a basic 3D model to create an interactive scene in amatter of minutes, especially if there is a usable project template, with the basic interactivityalready pre-scripted. For larger projects, more effort is required, because models must beoptimised considerably to be usable in a real-time visualisation.

It is relatively easy to incorporate design changes, because extensive re-rendering is notrequired as in traditional pre-rendered visualisations. With Unity, the original 3D model isreferenced as an asset within the real-time visualisation engine, which means thatsubsequent changes to the design can be easily incorporated later on. It is also possible tointegrate the platform with other services, such as a project database, company server or BIM model, to ensure that information is always up to date.

This virtual building was created for the Chartered Institute of Buildings exam programmeby digital design agency Makemedia. Students must identify areas of concern during avirtual tour


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SHARING THE VISUALISATION WITH OTHERS

While the resulting application can be run within the real-time visualisation engine itself,this is not the recommended way to share it. Depending on the system used, it can bepublished in multiple formats: a self-contained desktop application, an applet to beembedded in a website or an app for a mobile device. It can then be run by the client ontheir own computer or mobile device, through their web browser (with the installation of afree browser plug-in). The developer can also use the application to record a screen move,

which can be integrated in presentations or shared online.Real-time visualisations can require significant computer processing and storage power.Unity runs on most up-to-date Windows or OSX computers and the programme installationis several gigabytes. For a Windows installation, there is an application and accompanyingdata folder, whereas for Apples OSX, it is delivered as an app bundle, like the majority of Mac applications.

Interactive projects contain all models, textures and sounds, alongside temporary files tofacilitate publishing on multiple platforms, and so can grow considerably in size, rangingfrom several megabytes to a few gigabytes for large models. When publishing the

application, optimisation and compression are used to minimise the file size. Typical smallprojects can be optimised to less than 10MB, but more complete projects, with extensivetextures and environments can still be up to 1GB.

When basketball team the Sacramento Kings was planning a new arena, it wanted to helpstakeholders, fans and members of the community explore the project long beforeconstruction started. This visualisation was built using Unity by digital design agency ArchVisual

CONVERTING CAD AND BIM MODELS TO REAL-TIME VISUALISATIONS

Open and extensible real-time visualisation engines, such as Unity, lend themselves well to

architectural applications. Courses or modules focusing on level development usuallyapply fairly well in an architectural context, and experience of 3D polygonal modelling,texturing, animation and visualisation is also helpful, as these game developmenttechniques apply directly to architectural visualisation.


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There are several differences between CAD and BIM models and models used in real-timevisualisation engines. Designers should consider the following areas:

Geometry Game developers strip out all unseen geometry from a model, whereasarchitectural modellers add in every possible geometry that is relevant to theproject. A good solution is to split up the model into modular pieces and use scriptingto show and hide these parts when required.Lighting adding a simple light will make things visible, but the result is usually flat,

dull and unrealistic. For best results, there should be multiple light sources andspecial attention paid to dark rooms and areas.Textures many CAD and BIM models contain objects without any texture. In a real-time environment, they look very flat and do not react well to light, or provide asufficient sense of scale for a gaming project. Ensure that every single geometricelement has a material with texture assigned, and that it is scaled correctly. This isdifficult to correct directly after conversion of the model.Flipped normals every face in a model has a back and a front. CAD systemsusually display both, whereas rendering and visualisation systems, such as Unity,hide the back faces so that they show up as missing geometry or holes in the model.Ensure that the model is properly constructed with only front faces visible. This

problem is especially noticeable in CAD systems such as SketchUp and AutoCAD. InBIM software, most elements are 3D volumes which are properly generated from thebeginning, so this is not usually a problem.Scaling in regular visualisations, you dont notice the scale of the model in the endresult. However, in a real-time interactive environment, movements and interactionstake place on a real-world scale. It is therefore very important to ensure that themodel is imported at its real-world size. The model can be set to be used at 1:1 in theimport settings.

How to take this module

UBMs CPD distance-learning programme is open to anyone seeking todevelop their knowledge and skills. Each module also offers members of professional institutions an opportunity to earn between 30 and 90minutes of credits towards their annual CPD requirement.

This article is accredited by the CPD Certification Service. To earn CPDcredits, read the article and then click the link below to complete your details andanswer the questions. You will receive your results instantly, and if all the questions arecorrectly answered, you will be able to download your CPD certificate straight away.

CPD CREDITS: 30 MINUTESDEADLINE: 31 OCTOBER 2014

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