topic Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted in BIMx

BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Szabolcs Kari — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 16:15:27 GMT

Welcome! We're excited to hear your ideas, feedback, and thoughts about BIMx - the BIM experience on Apple Vision Pro. Your insights mean the world to us! Don't worry, we're officially keeping an eye on this space to make sure your voices are heard. Jump into the conversation and let's work together to shape the future of BIMx on Apple Vision Pro!

Download BIMx to visionOS today!

Release article here!

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

DA_ARCHICAD — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 16:41:22 GMT

Is the BIMx app available on the Meta Quest 3 store as well? If not, do you plan to make it available for the Quest VR set?

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Adam Roark — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 19:28:42 GMT

Awesome! This was a nice surprise. The potential of this is immediately apparent. I haven't tried using a game controller yet in first person immersive mode, but I do wonder if that's possible to help with navigation there.

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Rex Maximilian — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:21:02 GMT

@Szabolcs Kari I just used it in a client presentation on DAY ONE of its release. It went very well. Here is my feedback.

1) Client was over the moon using the set with his model in front of him in object mode.
2) Enjoyed the walkthrough mode as well, with some reservations.
3) Overall was a success

Suggestions:

1) This is essentially the iPhone/iPad app. When it's in a window, it doesn't really offer more than what is normally experienced on the other devices.
2) VR mode was good, but it was too pixelated (jagged edges), too saturated, and the navigation was WAAAAY to fast. The client actually asked me how to slow it down. Unless I missed the method to do so, I told him the best he could do was to pause it.
3) The fundamental aspect of the Vision Pro is AR. BIMx absolutely, 100% needs to have an AR model mode. We should be able to set the model down on a conference table in our view, or on the grass in an open area. This essentially would replace the window view of viewing the model as an object. Until this is implemented, I'm afraid it's more of a novelty at this point.

So, fix the speed and rendering quality of the VR walkthrough, and add true AR and you will have a smash hit!

BIMx is out for Apple Vision Pro

chipo — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 09:08:00 GMT

I played with it last night. Pretty awesome! So much potential. I got a little bit nauseous in the first person view which is the first time I’ve felt uncomfortable in the headset period. But I’m sure that’ll continue to be refined. I need to test and see if a game controller works for moving around in the immersive first person view, because that would be ideal. We had a client email us first thing Monday asking if they could view their project in their new AVP and I had to tell them no, not yet. Just a few days later and now they can!

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Rex Maximilian — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 16:47:21 GMT

one other very important bug I want to report is that if you accidentally hit the feedback button on the upper right side of menus, I have not found a way to cancel the email. In order to get out of that box you have to send it. I just spent changing the email address to my personal one before sending. There needs to be an active cancel button email response.

Re: BIMx is out for Apple Vision Pro

rob2218 — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 00:42:38 GMT

how do you go about viewing a BIMx project inside the Apple Vison Pro?

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Szabolcs Kari — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 10:33:56 GMT

Dear DA_ARCHICAD,
Thank you for the suggestion of a new platform for VR/AR extension for BIMx. We are not planning with porting BIMx to a new platform right now, but I encourage all Meta Quest 3 users to raises your voice. We are always happy to investigate other possibilities!
Kind regards,
Szabolcs

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Szabolcs Kari — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:40:22 GMT

Dear Rex,

Thank you for your initial feedback about BIMx on Vision Pro. We are happy to hear that your presentation went well and you could utilise BIMx to engage your clients even better. Your feedback is much appreciated here so let me answer them one by one.
1, That is true for the application in general, except the VR/AR/Immersion modes. As long as you keep it running in a window, you can expect similar interactions and features like on iPad and iPhone. This behaviour was partly of the reason that we were able to release a Vision Pro version so quickly.

2, Absolute valuable feedback. In the upcoming releases we'd like to fine-tune navigation and work on visual quality. Currently, by setting the walking speed to 1x with frequent stopping is the way to manage navigation in full immersion mode.

3, We share the same vision here. Currently, there are external factors that limits us in delving into mixed immersion mode related features. As soon as these obstacles move away, you can expect upgrades in this area.
Cheers, Szabolcs

Re: BIMx is out for Apple Vision Pro

Szabolcs Kari — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:47:27 GMT

Dear chipo,

Thank you for trying out BIMx on Vision Pro and writing a feedback to us. We are currently working on visual quality and navigation related enhancements to deliver even better experience for you.
We believe, that the novelty of Vision Pro is to allow navigation without a controller, though we are happy to investigate possibilities with external navigation control devices. We'll keep you posted.
Cheers,
Szabolcs

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Szabolcs Kari — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:49:51 GMT

Dear Rex,

Thanks for finding this bug, we are on it. Also, you can Force Quit any time BIMx by pressing and holding down the 2 buttons on the googles if you encounter with similar problems and you don't want to proceed with sending a mail.
Cheers,
Szabolcs

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

RobertMicacchi — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 19:31:10 GMT

Glad to see BimX on the Vision Pro so quickly.

How to we rotate our walk or view? I want to pinch and pull the centre of our view so we don't have to rotate our neck 180º. Is there a command I am missing?

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Szabolcs Kari — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:15:52 GMT

Hi RobertMicacchi,
Right now within full immersion there is no way to reposition the model, it works as 'real world' in that sense. Can you please elaborate more on why would you want to rotate the environment and model while you are in it? Is it because the too much rotation you need to do or you'd like to use the Vision Pro while you are seated? Your input here is highly appreciated.
Thank in advance,
Szabolcs

Re: BIMx is out for Apple Vision Pro

Szabolcs Kari — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:19:42 GMT

Hi rob2218,

By selecting the box with outward arrows icon in the top right corner, you can enter full immersion mode. Navigation is fairly simple there. With a pinching gesture, you can start moving within the scene, and pinching again will stop your movement. You can easily adjust the speed and direction within full immersion mode.

Cheers, Szabolcs

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Rex Maximilian — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 18:11:41 GMT

@Szabolcs Kari I'd like to re-emphasize the need for AR, or mixed reality. The ability to place the model on a large conference table and walk around it, or in an open field at true scale would really enhance the design. Currently, an app called "Arki" does this on phones and iPads. They are working on adding this same feature to their native Vision Pro app. Don't allow them to beat you to it and be late to the party! Thanks!

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

RobertMicacchi — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 13:24:10 GMT

Hi Szabolcs,

Thank you for responding so quickly. I did stand up and was pleasantly surprised that it is so obvious and easy to just turn around and walk another direction in the virtual model! To answer your question, yes, it would be nice to sit down and pinch and drag the environment to rotate around me.

We did do a demonstration with the client today, and they were impresseD. They too complained that they didn’t want to have to stand to turn around. I would like to request that we could rotate the model by pinching.

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Roland Szabo — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:44:10 GMT

Dear All, we just released a collection of bugfixes with version 2024.5614. Please check it, and if you still experience any issues, just let us know here or via bimx@graphisoft.com. No new features are included in this version.

Regarding the future improvements, I also thank you for sharing your thoughts. We rely on them during the design and development process.

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

Rex Maximilian — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 19:54:50 GMT

@Szabolcs Kari Just some feedback... I have now stopped using this app with Vision Pro, as the VR walkthrough is making my clients dizzy, and the normal 3D window in object mode is better used on an iPad or laptop.

Mixed reality/AR is needed a.s.a.p. or it is just a novelty app.

I have been able to save to FBX, then convert to USDZ with a free web converter. Then I open the AR model on the Vision Pro using the built-in AR Kit on Apple devices. This has been getting rave reviews and responses.

I had to come up with this ad hoc method myself, but R&D at GS should have already implemented it, because if I can do it, GS can do it.

I will post a how to (pretty simple) of how to do this for Vision Pro owners here. Ive been able to place architectural models on a conference table for the client to walk around and peer into, as well as make 100% size in a large, open space and they can actually walk THROUGH their project. It has an extremely positive result with the clients. Stay tuned...

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

architecturegeek — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 00:38:08 GMT

We just picked up an AVP this weekend and have been testing. Love that BIMx is on this so early though I'll echo most of the thoughts from the rest of the folks here. In a world where we're meeting more and more clients at their homes vs bringing them in to our office having a VR experience that I can take with me without bringing a big rig and doing a lot of setup is great. The majority of my notes below come from the fact this is clearly the iOS app ported over and some of the behavior that made sense in iOS is working against the app on VisionOS.

My number one complaint/thought, I think the decision to use the old google cardboard implementation of VR was a mistake, not only does it break from the standard UX of VisionOS, it also feels pretty stone age vs any other VR "walkthrough". Our entire firm agreed we'd prefer a room scale option (aka we can physically walk around in meat space) that has some sort of teleport command. This would be in keeping with what you see with VR in twinmotion and virtually any gaming system, Meta Quest, etc, not only that it's also the very first thing most folks do when experiencing a model in VR anyway. Allow folks to physically move and you'll get around some of the dizziness for most folks vs what is happening with the current roller coaster effect.

The low resolution is a challenge. I get that you all are going for a universal app and there's subsequent load to create a special high res model for VisionOS but it's extremely noticeable on that headset. Regardless of how it gets there the end goal for us would be something that is on the same level of "crisp" as what you see when opening a 3D file (usdz) natively on that device. It difficult to send clients vids and panoramas rendered from Twinmotion or similar and then have them open the BIMx app after as it feels like a step backward despite the immersion.

Eye height should be coming from device to floor height not an app setting. That not being accurate to each users eye breaks some of the value in VR which allows folks to make informed decisions on the heights of counters, ceilings, etc. This is as important as fixing the system for movement.

I concur that an AR option would be great. We were very impressed with the Revolve app which is a static 1:1 scale model of MEP that you can walk around. Opening a specific 3D view (for example: just the framing) and overlaying over the actual construction on-site is the holy grail for us that moves this on from neat gizmo.

We also tested an app called CADplan that had a lovely little dollhouse system which might be of interest to some clients. At the moment we're converting ArchiCAD files to .fbx and then using Reality Converter to make them .USDZ files to natively open on the AVP. This gets us that dollhouse or scale model effect but quicklook in vision OS isn't really setup to manipulate those items like an app could.

One consistent bug: Clicking "x" in immersive mode just removes the x it does not drop back to the menu of drawings, etc.

Happy to share more thoughts with the dev team as needed, we're going to be pushing this device through its paces over the next few weeks.

Feel free to DM me or reach out via lanewilliams.com

We're looking forward to seeing the progress on this front!

Re: BIMx on Apple Vision Pro - Feedback Wanted

architecturegeek — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:47:52 GMT

absolutely agree. The USDZ method is working more in keeping with what we want and with Apple's own development standard though I do have issues with it at full scale when we have a lot of topo. Have you found an app to open it rather than quicklook? Quicklook works, especially for a scaled down model on a table, but wish the controls were a little more fluid.