Walkthroughs automatically from floor plans

[maxchristian]

My company has developed and released software that generates walkthroughs directly from floor plans. (I'm not sure if I can mention the company name as the forum rules don't allow advertising.)

 

The decoration, furnishing and camera movements are all done with no user intervention, generated automatically from the information in the floor plan. The system makes several different versions from each plan, with contemporary/traditional furnishings, different flooring and wall coverings. Global illumination is used and the finished videos are generally comparable in realism to work produced by hand in Maya and the like.

 

Is this something which architectural CG people might find useful in some way? There is no direct control over decoration or furnishing; just the pre-defined schemes, although it would be possible in principle to add support for user-defined textures. Also, it only works on residential property, not commercial premises.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated as it will help us decide whether to market this to the architectural CG community.

 

Cheers,

 

Max Christian

[Creapix]

Hello Max Christian,

 

For sure it would be an interesting software, particularly if we can add our own custom furnitures (or have them added to the library of possible furnitures). You could make a trial beta version available to see if there's enough interest in your software, and to bug-proof it at the same time.

I think it can always be useful to have other tools for specific tasks, it leverage the workload for others. If you could make an export option to export geometry with camera paths, lights and materials, it could even be more useful.

The option to have a client or player that regular consumers could use online or in an interactive stand to generate realtime 3d (or even rendered) walkthroughs from floorplans they like would certainly be another option in your toolbox.

 

If you have samples of the quality your software achieve, demos or even beta, don't hesitate to email me (or post them here as long as they comply with the rules), so we can judge a bit more.

 

Cheers, good luck with your new product, and keep us updated please.

 

PS: I was having a discussion about a project to develop for builders here with another architect today which is a little bit similar in the wide scope of yours, so obviously I think there will be an interest.

[maxchristian]

Hi Andy, thanks for the feedback.

 

No need for a beta actually, as this is a fully released product that began development in 2003. As I suspected, sounds like import & export are probably needed before it will be useful to the CG community.

 

Here are three examples so you can see what I'm talking about. Bear in mind that these were created automatically from floor plans alone; there was no human involvement:

 

Tiny studio flat

Small house

Big house

 

I'm about to email you our web address, and I'll certainly post again if we add the import/export features you suggest.

 

Cheers,

 

Max Christian

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I can see potential in the product, but at least for myself, i currently would not be able to make use of it in my daily life. when i do aniamtions, they are typically highly spec'd conditions. cutom a lot of stuff, certain furniture, and a ccomfortable lived in look.

 

a market you may be able to go after are the ones responsible for mass subdivision home building here in the states. a single developer typically buys several acres of land, and divides them into several lots. they then develop 5 or so base house models that will then be built in that development. people who want to live in that development then go to the developer, buy a lot, and choose a house. there are restrictions on what house they can choose and what color based on what their neighbors will have.

 

this is where you come in. as they choose different options for their house, colors, layouts, ect.., you are able to automatically supply them with a quick virtual tour.

 

just a thought.

[Creapix]

Hello Max Christian,

 

I don't know if you already sent me your web address, but I didn't receive anything yet, so you might want to PM it to me instead.

 

Your samples are quite interesting already. You're saying that there was no human interaction beside the import/creation of floor plans, I'd be curious to see what your interface looks like and how is your workflow.

The setup and rendertimes would be interesting to know too.

 

The field that Travis talked you about is exactly the kind of field that I see this software useful for, along with prefab houses companies.

 

If you could provide me with more informations about your product please, I'd be interested to know more about it.

 

Thanks.

[kippu]

very interesting piece of software and you are saying no human intervention .. impressive

[maxchristian]

Andy -- sorry for the delay, you should have received a private message now.

 

Travis -- That sounds like an intriguing possibility. Can I ask, as I'm not very familar with US building methods, is the 'color' that you mention the exterior color or the interior decoration?

 

Thanks to all.

[4DM]

... no human intervention .. impressive

 

If this catches on, we'll all end up having to beg on the street corner... it'll be depressive, not impressive!

 

Cheers,

 

D.

[Vince Paske]

The software looks restricted to rectangles and boxes - no complex roofs, or curved shapes or moulding profiles. Housing developers use those features to sell homes. I saw some tearing in the walls surfaces and thought the camera work wasn't very professional looking.

Given the talent of people in this industry, the speed at which they can work and the hardware available...I don't know....the ability to do animations like that, but with better detail and quality would appeal to developers more.

Also, what do you mean exactly by "no human involvement?" Hows does the software know how tall the walls are, what the surfaces are...etc? Perhaps you spend more time preparing the plan to be exported?

[kaylmyers]

What process is used in creating the floor plans? The software used at my company is ArchiCAD. Which, for those of you not familier with it, is completely front loaded. meaning you draw your floor plans, spec wall/ceiling heights, doors, windows, furniture, etc, and it generates elevations, 3d models and plans. Similar to ADT.

 

Is the software something like this? Or do you make your plans in something like ADT or Archicad that generates the 3d, then create the render and animation in your program?

 

If this is the case, then Archicad does the same thing as your program. There is a new lighting and rendering engine, which is close (but not quite as good) to the GI in your samples. And animation tools as well. In Archicad, everything is customizable. Textures, lights, etc.

 

I'm not meaning to turn this into an ad for Archicad, I'm just explaining the features because I'm curious to know the differences between the two.

 

-Kayl

[Creapix]

Max,

 

I've checked it, and effectively it looks really like a nice idea. It certainly needs to import at least .DWGs to be really interesting, and if possible, export geometry, animation paths etc., to .3ds, .obj or .lwo.

 

I think that's a great business idea that you have there and it should certainly work good once you've implemented some import and export options.

 

Kayl, the beauty of the product Max is talking about is that it's kinda online based, you only need a little client and you can start doing like in archicad as you said. It's pretty impressive and certainly could find uses in many places.

 

Keep us updated Max (or at least me hahaha )

[4DM]

Sorry, I just don't get it.

 

I mean, kudos and good luck to Max and all that, but why would we at cgarch.com in particular, want to welcome a program that, if taken to it's ultimate extension, would cut out the human element completely in creating visuals and flythroughs, and therefore our jobs with it?

 

I can understand an architect's or developer's office wanting to take this on to cut down on their staff overheads, but as visualisers, who are taking great pains to learn and improve their skills in architectural visualisation and animation, why would we all want to be replaced by a piece of software?

 

If this is the future, well so be it...I am personally more than happy to rise to the challenge and compete on quality...but I cannot understand why here, of all places, this product should be so lauded.

 

Perhaps I am missing something...could someone please explain the attraction to visualisers, and the apparent enthusiasm with which many of you appear to be greeting this threat to your livelihoods?

 

Just curious.

 

Cheers,

 

D.

[maxchristian]

Quite a response!

 

Personally, I don't think this poses any threat to CG artists because the art of creating a walkthrough is beyond any piece of software. The best a computer can do unassisted is apply a pre-defined template (kitchen, bathroom, furniture, wallcoverings etc.) to floor plans en masse. I imagine that most clients want their own customised 'look', and that will always need an artist. It's possible though that there might be projects that don't get taken on at present because the client doesn't have the budget, but that might be viable with a bit of automation.

 

Vince asked how the system knows about wall heights and surfaces. The surfaces are from these pre-defined templates (there are currently four). At present, we render all four versions and let the viewer of the tour choose which they see. The floor plans are drawn on our site, and the interface has an option to specify the height of each floor or room, but that's the only piece of information that isn't strictly from the floor plan.