3d printing and gaming engines in architectural visualization...

[vangutendog]

*Disclaimer: Some of my points might be a bit dated, because the architecture industry in South Africa seems to follow international trends with a decent amount of lag. I don't claim to know everything. I am trying to develop a discussion on the topic for my learning. So if you do not agree with anything I have stated, please call bulls**t but follow up your point.

From what I've noticed, the current trend is leading towards animated fly throughs being a staple the "wow" factor in our industry.

 

But if we look toward the future, how are gaming engines and 3d printers going to influence the business of architectural visualization. I've spoken with many people internationally who have said that the 3d printing is currently what 3d rendering was years ago - very impressive with a technological leap just around the corner.

 

Currently, firms that I have spoken to have indicated their interest, though they have also claimed that the technology is not quite at the mark to make it worth their investment. The only firm that I came across that had mad the investment mentioned that the printer was severely underused mainly because printing and building became very time and labor intensive.

 

I've also been looking into the gaming environment. Mainly utilizing Unity as a platform for virtual walkthroughs and interactive environments. The issue faced here (from what I've seen) is that this tool is not quite at the level the experience is completely realistic and materials render with a slightly plastic, cuboid feel.

 

Also I'd imagine the development side is very labour intensive which could make it unfeasible at the moment.

 

That said, the shear size of the gaming industry has led to technological breakthroughs that are being applied to various other industries at fractions of what they would have cost several years ago.

 

Have you guys had any interaction with new/similar technologies? Are there companies that are looking in this direction? Do you know of feasible strategies to utilize 3d printing and gaming to it maximum capacity?

[Darawork]

More than ten years ago, in an Architectural company where I used to work, I exported a project building we were all working on from 3DSmax into the HalfLife SDK. We played plenty of DeathMatches in it (after work) before it went to build. The underneath of stairs and landings are good sniping spots.

 

I would love to see 3D printing take off, but I'd say it will be another few years. Even then, the expense of 'last minute' changes may well still be prohibitive in cost for it to be a sole solution. The reason we got away from drawing boards in the first place was to venture into non-destructive media and the speed and forgiveness it offers.

[vangutendog]

Yar, I also recall a friend of mine using the quake2 (i think) map editor to develop a walkthrough for his thesis project. It was a fun idea and got some "hard work" nods from the lecturers but it really didn't convey the feeling of walking around the actual building.

 

I could be mistaken, but I think some 3d printers utilize a recyclable plastic which could make the destructive media aspect less of an issue. I still agree with you though that any 3d printed model risk last minute changes even with a recyclable material. But is that not also a matter of developing processes to utilize the printers more efficiently? eg. Segmenting models into smaller pieces that can be changed out separately if changes are required?

[RyderSK]

You're answered yourself about the real-time being very labour intensive. I think this might be the sole reason why there aren't that many companies offering it at all.

 

You can have pretty much identical quality to off-line rendering, but that is even more labour intensive. I think up to this date, this is the best example, by TEARTE guys using Unity. Everything is rendered/baked-in by Vray though apart from speculars.

 

 

I've been fascinated by this tech likewise since architecture college, I build my studio projects inside Crysis2 ModSDK (CryEngine2 back then, now the amazing new CryEngine (3.5) SDK is free and even more powerful), but it was just lot of work for something that might not be that un-problematic with clients. From bussiness standpoint it's hard to offer to architectural clients as end product, what would they do with it ? It's more something the architects will adopt in their workflow (this is where Lumion is getting, it's aimed at architects, not arch-vizualizers) to help out in communicating the design to their clients.

 

3D printing is on rise, but I don't take much notice of trends, to me it's still a gimmick more or less, and I am virtual reality guy instead :- )

[Justin Hunt]

I think there is a definite place for the likes of Lumion, low cost animations. Soon the quality will be good enough, not just yet though. Great for Master Planning stuff, not so for touchy feely stuff.

 

We are quite keen on 3D printing, but it just takes too long to print even the simplest models. 3d printing is on the rise and is going to go a long way. If anything its going to change the manufacturing industry more than the architectural one.

 

jhv

[vangutendog]

Thanks for the input guys. Really interesting. I saw this

a while ago and found it again.

 

I was looking at Lumion this morning and going through a few videos. It looks very much like a Prezi concept (laterally thinking of course). Prezi tried to make a feasible way of creating animated powerpoint that a businessman could do himself. However, now companies are employing graphic artists with a preference on Prezi skills.

 

I think Lumion will also come down to a "even though anyone can point and click a camera, you still employ a wedding photographer" analogy, or

You'll never get a piece of software to replace a well trained artist.

 

Yup, Lumion has the "not quite there" look that I meant by plastic but I know several architects that if I should them a flythought with that would be wowed and assume I took ages on it.

 

Please keep the comments coming. So far its very informative for me. Thanks guys!

[Jonathan]

3D printing is already here, whether or not it will be largely adopted to replace or supplement digital content in archviz is questionable. I see it as a massing tool which is great for architectural development but little use in proposal marketing. That being said, augment the physical model with digital, aka projection mapping, and we have something potentially very interesting. We're working on an installation project now which does almost the opposite; 3D printed artifacts with embeded RFID tags trigger immersive animations: http://pixogram.co.uk/?p=1729

[Playdo]

Funny you mention that Jonathan. I was thinking exactly the same when I read this thread yesterday. The technology in the video shows the benefit for product design, but it could be just as useful for arch development too.

 

[Scott Schroeder]

If you want that quality, Luminon is not for you. As Juraj hit the nail on the head, it's for those Go To Meeting walk arounds and getting the end client to visualize their design. Though I've yet to see it really be pushed with anything more than a boxy home. I'd love to put one of our 10,000 seat arenas with attached hotel and convention center in it and see what it can really do.

 

There has been some really impressive stuff done with CryEngine 3 and UDK, but it's time prohibitive in your standard lets change things at the last minute architecture workflow or the I'm going t put my really poorly constructed Revit/SketchUp model in there and hope it plays back at anything more than 4 frames per second.

 

 

3D printing is not just for models......

http://www.gizmag.com/swiss-architects-3dprint-a-room/29299/

[vangutendog]

Yar, Lumion definitely doesn't have the quality but it will be interesting to see how it evolves. I did a bit of reading on Enodo and it definitely looks like they are pushing boundaries. I'd love to find more of a write up on them, what procedures they follow and how they interact with the architects.

 

A train of thought after watching Oliver's video link was combining bypassing 3d models completely and utilizing holographic technology: http://vimeo.com/8078523. I'm not blown away by the video, but that was 2009.

[heni30]

augment the physical model with digital, aka projection mapping, and we have something potentially very interesting.

 

Does the viewing point always need to be frontal center?

[Jonathan]

There's always a 'sweet spot' but generally projection mapping can be viewed successfully from just about any angle. I have a project now where the model will be viewed from 360 degrees, its a bit of a headache. Typically the wider the angle the more projectors are required.

[stefkeB]

Considering gaming engines, Unity is quite accessible. With the free (Indie) version you can do a lot, but it lacks some of the Pro features for more photo-realistic looks.

 

E.g. free version: decent shaders (diffuse, specular, normals, support for Substances), basic realtime shadows (hard shadows for directional lights), good workflow (integrate FBX or Collada models, update models from CAD/BIM software and reload automatically), quite powerful, intelligent scripting (without scripting, not so much you can really finish), integrated Asset store, integrated BEAST light mapping w. AO and soft shadows

 

Add to that for the Pro version: bounced light and final gathering in Light mapping, area lights (for light maps), full screen effects (e.g. AO, bloom, tone mapping), shadows for all light sources, blending between realtime and baked shadows with dual light maps, …

Price is reasonable.

 

 

For me, the workflow integration is very valuable. I can load an ArchiCAD BIM model through Cinema4D and host it as FBX inside Unity. I can still update the ArchiCAD model, merge it in Cinema4D which keeps changes and update the FBX model in Unity. Using Revit/3ds max works similar. SketchUp Pro is also straightforward to integrate.

 

REALIS3D is a realtime architectural visualisation system based on Unity.

 

An out-of-the box solution such as BIMx for ArchiCAD works also very well. It's a one-click thing though. Its good for casual users, but allows no in-depth customisation.

[vangutendog]

Thanks Stephan.

 

Had a look at Realis3D. Very interesting, but the visuals that I saw still have a very plastic look to them - compared to what I saw with ENODO.

 

However, in regards to process, is it possible to work with the Architect, importing Autodesk models, whilst designing the buildings.

 

EG: Stage 1 would be to import the base model that the Architect has designed into the gaming engine, Unity/Crysoft, to create an environment that the user can fly/walk around. Stages 2 would be to import sectional edits that the Architect has done to the design. Stage 3 and onward would be to do into the design with the Architects to add (via import) materials, furnishings and resolve the design in general? Until the final stage whereby the artist will resolve model for final presentation.

 

This would definitely take a long time - I noticed that ENODO's project took anywhere from 2 weeks to a year, but it would also allow the architect to design the building from the ground up and simulate and edit a variety of issues such as how people would move around and interact with the building.

[notamondayfan]

The problem with 3D printing is kind of "what's the point?". I'm not saying it's useless, but I struggle to see how it can be used as a tool in our industry. The 3D visuals took over from card models, which were cheap and relativly easy to make, but 3D printing is more expensive and just as time consuming, if not more.

Perhaps 3D printing might be useful for large bids or meetings, but at the moment I do see it as a gimmick. Don't get me wrong, I love the format, and want to push it if I can, but right now I can't see a purpose for it.

 

As for real time, I can see more potential in this, look at the arch vis awards for real time, and the winners have always produced something special.

It's easy to bake out a 3D scene, and drop a real time camera in, in Unity, but making the experience interesting, exciting and engaging is the very tricky part.

 

Dean

[Jonathan]

Squint Opera tweet about 2 minutes ago!: https://twitter.com/squintopera/status/400992408113917952/photo/1

[vangutendog]

Squint Opera tweet about 2 minutes ago!: https://twitter.com/squintopera/status/400992408113917952/photo/1

 

Awesome stuff.

 

Just found this a few minutes ago

 

Looks promising, Really wanting to see how it pans out. The headmounted display is a nice gimmic, though if you're presenting to a board of people I would think a screen with one person on the controls would be best.

 

Otherwise a multiplay feature would be fantastic for convention displays or really getting that wow factor. Still need to read up more.

[dande]

We got a 3D printer for a couple of particular jobs. They were fine for those jobs, there is interest in it and we get the odd small job for it.

 

The problem with realtime is the models need to be light other wise the user experience is slow and jumpy. If you are giving the realtime animation to the client or placing it on the web the quality of the play back is dependent on the users computer and web connection. We also find the the clients want render quality, from the game engine so you really need to manage the clients expectations.

 

We try and steer clients away from realtime because it takes a lot of work to get decent quality because often you have to through the model and strip it down, then rendering to texture then setting it all up in Unity which is the engine we use.

 

One 1/2 solution we have used in the before is panorama's and adding hotspots so the user can move around. It gives render quality and gives a bit of interactivity.

 

The end of the day it depends on the project a lot of the time the client won't pay for the effort that goes into real time.

[Darawork]

Just finished a shop design presentation just using 3DSMax Design 2014 and its nice Nitrous Viewport (set to Realistic and Edged faces).

Navigation with the walkthough tool (cursor keys and mouse to look around). That is the third presentation / design meeting done this way.

The clients always seem to be satisfactorily impressed and the idea gets put across fine. Plus if things like sizes and colours need to be changed on the fly, it's possible.

 

I think it's nearly visually on par with using a game engine (at least for the client), and it bypasses the need to convert down/across/sideways in several programs.

[vangutendog]

Thanks for the feedback Dan. I think the common theme has been that although there is the ability to develop gaming models and 3d prints, the specialization, time and resources spent makes it too difficult to utilize for every project and that solutions and strategies need to be developed to use it effectively.

 

It also looks like the application of gaming engines in architecture might also incur elements of "the uncanny valley". A term used in robotics and cgi that says that if something that is clearly not human is given human qualities we find those qualities endearing. But give it too many human characteristics, then it starts looking like an imperfect simulation/slightly disquieting. But if you get passed that and make it look like a perfect human the observer starts to accept the object again.

 

Maybe this could account for why a perfect still image rendering is often far better received than an imperfect flythough or 1st person simulation through a gaming engine.

Edited November 15, 2013 by vangutendog

[CliveG]

Did you see this post.....

 

 

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/74309-augmented-reality-app-visualize-your-3d-models-augment.html

 

 

Which, though neither relevant to 3d printing nor probably the gaming engine, is interesting by way of pushing presentation methods for models.

[vangutendog]

Thanks newbie. Was very interesting. I have sent a mail to Mickael to find out more.

 

Bare in mind, the 3d printing and gaming engines are simply examples of new tech coming out. So although your link was not relevant to those, it is following exactly what I am trying to explore here. Thank you.

[CliveG]

Sort of on the subject, this is 4 years old now..... but this is a lot more accessible technology and I'd guess it'll be not so long before its commonplace, nonetheless it's cool - I want one (a bit smaller and less cumbersome though)

 

 

Plus it was his graduation project!.... I'm guessing he passed then

[stefkeB]

While most non-specialist users of 3D Game Engines will not get anywhere near "photo-realistic", it depends on the purpose. Many architectural offices are steering away from full-on rendering (for which specialists are required - such as the typical CGArchitect member) and rely on SketchUp-style images. Clean. Abstract. Evoking a sense of space and ambience.

In that context, there will be specialists focusing on getting every last bit of screen and shader FX and intricate texturing and modelling work to get a compelling realtime environment. And then you get these huge game development teams who work months or years on a single title. This is not the quality you can deliver as a small visualisation office for architects or city councils or clients. However, you should focus on the added value realtime can bring: wandering around, interactivity, what-if, changing textures on-the-fly, changing lights etc. Maybe it doesn't really matter too much anymore that the result is like a game from 10 years ago. I used to love wandering around in Tomb Raider, because of the atmosphere of the environment, even with crude low-poly characters and basic textures without even bump mapping, let alone real shadows or specular effects.

 

As for 3D printing: architects who use models as part of their design process can use Laser Cutters more easily to cut out facades and floors to assembly a clean and precise model. Much more accessible and cheaper than 3D printing. The purpose is communicating the design intentions.

This is different from specialist services, who create huge detailed competition models but require several weeks and the design is not allowed to change anymore.