Interactive Visualisation

[JonRashid]

http://www.3pointd.com/20070207/crysis-engine-used-in-architectural-visualization/

This is another example of a firm using a games engine. The unreal engine has been used on a number of high profile projects. Just interested in what people think of this as a future direction. With multi-user access, full physics engines built in, and with a combination of texture baking and realtime lighting the results can get very close to the better images posted here. If you couple this with the fact they are all 3D ready then the bonus of getting a 'true' feel for the actual spaces and the interactivity then surely this must be an area which will compete aggressively with pre-rendered stills.

[BVI]

The license fees for these engines is very high - this was discussed sometime back on CGarch. I think the way forward would be for Max etc to add a realtime component as they did with quicktime VR etc. That will come when GPU rendering is more of a practical realtime reality and render time is no longer an issue.

[JonRashid]

Unreal do not charge until the application you create generates more then $15k. I would have thought most projects would come under this.

[HamburgerTrain]

That firm still exist? Old article and website is taken. A bad sign!

[JonRashid]

http://www.unrealtechnology.com/case-studies.php?ref=cowboys-stadium

 

this is another example. However using Python I myself have an engine into which I can import max models direct and display interactively in Stereoscopic 3D. It caters for normal maps, specular mapping and realtime lighting and also has a physics engine built in. 3D engines are common and a lot are open source. There is an OSG exporter for Max which allows export to virtual worlds and even caters for bone driven animations.