Oculust Rift: Construction Industry/Architect and Design

Another area this could work in is buying and selling property, you could literally have online estate agents/rental sites set up online people could literally have a VR tour of any house/apartment no matter where it is in the world, as the agents already have to go and take photos of the property anyway, therefore not much else would have to change just some softwarehardware development and obviously the likes of some sort of the 3D camera for the stereoscopic view, I'm mean the time and money saver on this would be massive it really could change the way things are done

"HAWKEYE481" wrote:
Another area this could work in is buying and selling property you could literally have online estate agents/rental set up online people could literally have a VR tour of any house/apartment no matter where in the world it is as the agents already have to go and take photos of the property anyway not much else would have to change just some software development and obviously the likes of some sort of the 3D camera for the stereoscopic view, I'm mean the time and money saver on this would be massive it really could change the way things are done

That's actually not that hard to do, and there are quite a few methods to do so. Either all in 3D, or a 360 degree stereoscopic camera which Audiovox and some other company are coming out with (it was on display at CES this year). For video, it's just a matter of putting into After Effects and applying a filter, or by a quasi-3D/Picture type environment.

I had an idea for a virtual tour of Alamut in Iraq, which would have rocked.. but there are no detailed, 1:30,000 topographical maps of the area on the internet (I checked, and probably got flagged by the NSA). I tried to email the PR guys at the CIA - but I didn't get a response :evil:

I did have that it mind that it wouldnt be that hard to do making it look real and generally having an easy to use product would be at the top of list, which when you think designing games would be a hell of a lot more complicated, with the Architecht and Design would just be getting the realistic look again nothing too complicated just look at graphics these days basically all the ideas I have I know are doable and all of them will potentially change the way things could be done in the future, or have a significant difference I'm not saying I'm the only person to of thought of them but while we don't even have a consumer product the market, its very fresh and potentially anyone who comes up with the best development could carve the way to being market leaders

"HAWKEYE481" wrote:
I did have that it mind that it wouldnt be that hard to do making it look real and a generally having an easy to use product would be at the top of list which when you think designing games would be a hell of a lot more complicated, with the Architecht and Design would just be getting the realistic look again nothing too complicated just look at graphics these days basically all the ideas I have I know are doable and all of them will potentially change the way things could be done in the future or have a significant difference I'm not saying I'm the only person to of thought of them but while we don't even have a consumer product the market is very fresh and potentially anyone who comes up with the best development

Its a bit of dabbling in each of these areas, so my views are definitely not to be taken as the "word of law" i guess?

Game design as a whole is pretty difficult, sure. However, with doing virtual tours, it's easier than you'd expect, even for me when I first started "playing around" as it were. AutoCad and 3dsMax, that integrates with each other as a no-brainer. The 3dsMax -> UDK (for example) is a complete 1:1 ratio. However, the ratio UDK uses for feet:units is 1:16 (so you'd increase the feet/unit ratio in max to that), and then do all the extruding, applying materials, and finally the collision meshes.

A simple HUD display (time, direction, other info) can all be done using Flash / Actionscript, and doesn't need AAA game publisher optimization. In fact, I would just build a HUD template to use in all of the tours, and that'd be that.

All in all, if you use CAD or Revit, then learning how to integrate the designs into UDK should take, 2-3 days roughly, if you only invested a couple of hours a day for e-learning/research.

Long rant, sorry, but one thing. If you're in the field already, in your spare time, make a quick demo and submit it to your bosses! Might find a pay-raise 8-)

I don't have any bosses lol, So Would be potential Clients Id be advertising to, not really into it already more looking at going down that route. I own a construction company it's my second one I wanted to integrate the Rift into the construction/Architect and Design sector seeing as there is no consumer product out as of yet, I think there is going to be a market for all sorts to do with the Rift, so I'm thinking of getting in there while it's fresh plus have been hugely passionate about VR since being a kid like 20+years ago so I'd be doing something I enjoy as well which is half the battle in life trying to find something you enjoy doing! I'll see what contacts I make over the coming weeks and get a general feel of where things could go and take it from there

I replied to the other post prior to seeing this one. I agree there is massive potential but at the end of the day it comes down to cost.

Although 3d builds would be useful for visualisation you could also strap a 360 degree camera to someone and make them tour a site visiting either pre agreed points of interest or the entire place. This video could be played back later in the safety of a meeting room with one or many people getting a chance to view in the rift with freedom of rotation. It could also be revisited again and again when people have had time to process what they have seen. Being a video file it can be sent anywhere in the world to save people travelling or view from home. For a larger investment improve to 3d 360 camera tech!

Another potential use is an environment scanner to give accurate point data which could be explored in 3d with the rift with a freedom of movement but different visuals.

A 3d engine though would allow for greatest flexibility when it comes to simulations and training etc. Both prior to and post build.

It would be great to explore all options and see the pros and cons of each.

Edit: after rereading the thread I realised my main paragraph was basically the same as what you said about estate agents/realtors! I was just thinking about it in a construction hse perspective.

That was the main idea for construction could even be played live would definitely have to be 360o stereoscopic and also the AR could be implemented into this