topic Re: VR viewers in Visualization

VR viewers

jonchis — Thu, 11 May 2023 11:48:58 GMT

I'm feeling a similar sway to offering clients a stand alone viewer with which to explore their models - although Zermatt at nearly $3000 AU feels way too expensive for a viewer - with the number of offices presenting 3D these days, an affordable viewer around the $750 - $1000 mark AU would grab a major market share.

I had in the past used cosmo viewer to view WRL files and another free utility called Worldview - both seem to have disappeared. it seems strange with the staggering proliferation of games that no one is producing an affordable game - engine driven viewer, i note that the Zermatt engine seems to have broadened it's market appeal by relying on the 3DS format, pretty common to the gaming world.

if anyone has found anything of interest, i'd be keen to hear. regards jc

Re: VR viewers

Barry Kelly — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:09:06 GMT

Not quite a VR viewer but you can save your 3D model as U3D format and embed this into a PDF.

Not particularly fast - you have to wait a little while for the 3D image to become active in the PDF.
And it can make some pretty big files so you have to be careful about turning off non-essential layers.
But it doesn't cost a cent.

Barry.

Re: VR viewers

Richard Morrison — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:16:14 GMT

You might check out the Cortona3D viewer http://www.cortona3d.com/cortona.

Re: VR viewers

Mats_Knutsson — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:21:46 GMT

jonchis wrote:
I'm feeling a similar sway to offering clients a stand alone viewer with which to explore their models - although Zermatt at nearly $3000 AU feels way too expensive for a viewer - with the number of offices presenting 3D these days, an affordable viewer around the $750 - $1000 mark AU would grab a major market share.

I had in the past used cosmo viewer to view WRL files and another free utility called Worldview - both seem to have disappeared. it seems strange with the staggering proliferation of games that no one is producing an affordable game - engine driven viewer, i note that the Zermatt engine seems to have broadened it's market appeal by relying on the 3DS format, pretty common to the gaming world.

if anyone has found anything of interest, i'd be keen to hear. regards jc

Have you checked the Virtual Building Explorer?

http://aec.cadalyst.com/aec/Web+Exclusive/Graphisofts-New-CEO-Discusses-a-New-Product/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/577812?ref=25

Re: VR viewers

jonchis — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:22:12 GMT

Thankyou guys, i'll jump in and check these out now.
rgds

jc

Re: VR viewers

Ben Cohen — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:24:50 GMT

WOW! that is great news. I've got to say, the screen shots shown in that article look exactly the same as Zermatt (I have Zermatt 3.0). Has Graphisoft bought Zermatt!? Great to see Graphisoft creating a decent VR file viewer, if the price is right they will sell them by the truck load.

Thanks for the link Mats

Re: VR viewers

Mats_Knutsson — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:25:42 GMT

Ben wrote:
WOW! that is great news. I've got to say, the screen shots shown in that article look exactly the same as Zermatt (I have Zermatt 3.0). Has Graphisoft bought Zermatt!? Great to see Graphisoft creating a decent VR file viewer, if the price is right they will sell them by the truck load.

Thanks for the link Mats

You're welcome! The Zermatt feeling is not a coincidence. It's on the shelf very soon. Is your avatar Mr Sheen Jr?
Mats

Re: VR viewers

Brett Brown — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:08:12 GMT

So Mats, How is Virtual Building Explorer going to be better than the FREE Cortona? And how does your client see the result like they can now with Cortona?

Re: VR viewers

Ben Cohen — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:14:56 GMT

the Avatar is Ace Rimmer!! From a classic English TV show - kind of a cross between Star Trek and South Park....

Back on topic. The new Graphisoft CEO has said in that article.... "innovation as our top priority". Well if Graphisoft have to buy the innovation, thats fine, the main thing is to bring innovation to the platform, I don't care who the inventor is!!. This is how software companies become huge, think Adobe, MS, Autodesk, Nemetschek ... the common thread is acquisition.

Re: VR viewers

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:28:55 GMT

Mats_Knutsson wrote:

Have you checked the Virtual Building Explorer?

http://aec.cadalyst.com/aec/Web+Exclusive/Graphisofts-New-CEO-Discusses-a-New-Product/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/577812?ref=25

I confess that I am very excited about this news.

I think there is a misunderstanding about the capabilities of this add-on, otherwise this tread would not be in the Rendering and Multimedia chapter.

From the images on the Cadalyst article you can see that this add-on gives you not only pretty pictures, but the ability of querying the model, like VICO 5D presenter http://www.vicosoftware.com/products/5d_presenter_2008/tabid/84575/Default.aspx (which btw is free...). Like Zermatt, of course, but I won´t go here

This is something that is SORELY needed.

As more and more ArchiCad users model their projects ever with more detail, being able to send this model to your client, engineer, constructor, licensing entity, as a navigable standalone is of enormous value.

Like I said, I am pretty excited. Zermatt has always been very promising, but lacked focus. With a Graphisoft similar product, we will have the support we need.

I would go as far as betting that if GS included this add-on as the main AC13 feature, it would be a winner, but luckily I am not responsible for their development policy

I will camp in line to get it, and will keep my fingers crossed that they develop a IPhone compatible APP.

Way to go, GS.

Re: VR viewers

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:10:25 GMT

VRML is what you need .... try Vitruvian Studio
http://www.vitruvian-studio.com/

Re: VR viewers

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:20:03 GMT

Karlsson wrote:
VRML is what you need .... try Vitruvian Studio

As far as I can see, it does not work in a Mac enviroment, and also, it does not give you nay information regarding de building elements. Or does it?

Re: VR viewers

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:31:49 GMT

Krippahl wrote:
As far as I can see, it does not work in a Mac enviroment ........

It does not work in a Mac enviroment .... but VS optimizes the VRML created with AC MAC as well ...if your goal is to put the scene on a web server and let your custmers to walk through the scene by them selves (freely using a VRML plug in) VS is OK till the 90 % of internet users use Windows ...

Re: VR viewers

Mats_Knutsson — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:38:33 GMT

Krippahl wrote:
Karlsson wrote:
VRML is what you need .... try Vitruvian Studio
As far as I can see, it does not work in a Mac enviroment, and also, it does not give you nay information regarding de building elements. Or does it?

I don't have the time to try and comment on the VBE right now since I'm writing important IFC material. However...VBE (as also Zermatt) is about stylish totally hassle-free communication of design! Every (however small) disturbance is negative for the clear and focused communication of your design.

I totally agree that VBE/Zermatt should not be regarded as a traditional VR-viewer.

I'm also VERY interested in the future development of a 5D Presenter inspired VBE as Miguel mentioned.

Cheers,
Mats

Hassle-free has nothing to do with Hasselhoff...

Re: VR viewers

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:46:02 GMT

Mats_Knutsson wrote:
Hassle-free has nothing to do with Hasselhoff...

Re: VR viewers

Ben Cohen — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:03:29 GMT

Krippahl wrote:
Karlsson wrote:
VRML is what you need .... try Vitruvian Studio
As far as I can see, it does not work in a Mac enviroment, and also, it does not give you nay information regarding de building elements. Or does it?

Unfortunately Zermatt is PC only, I have now gone 100% Mac, so I would love to see this new App work on Mac, but I seriously doubt it will.

I also noticed we have a proposed date on the link to Mats GS website...13th of Feb "New revolutionary tool for ArchiCAD" (Go to love Google translate!)

Re: VR viewers

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:13:12 GMT

Ben wrote:
Unfortunately Zermatt is PC only, I have now gone 100% Mac, so I would love to see this new App work on Mac, but I seriously doubt it will.

I am betting it will work on Mac, because I am willing to believe GS would not alienate such a big user base.

Although, the file generated could be Windows only, because almost everyone I will be sending the file to (constructors, engineers, clients) work with Windows.

12th I´ll camp on GS door then

Re: VR viewers

Mats_Knutsson — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:14:13 GMT

Ben wrote:
Krippahl wrote:
Karlsson wrote:
VRML is what you need .... try Vitruvian Studio
As far as I can see, it does not work in a Mac enviroment, and also, it does not give you nay information regarding de building elements. Or does it?
Unfortunately Zermatt is PC only, I have now gone 100% Mac, so I would love to see this new App work on Mac, but I seriously doubt it will.

I also noticed we have a proposed date on the link to Mats GS website...13th of Feb "New revolutionary tool for ArchiCAD" (Go to love Google translate!)

I got tricked to go 100% Mac which is a hassle...so I have to wait for the VBE slightly longer than my PC-friends but it's coming. Ladies first...PC first...eh!?!?!?
13th is cool date to drop VBE isn't it?
😉

I think more cool things will show up during spring. The climate is really strange here in the south of Sweden. About 150 Canadian Goose just practised formation flying outside my office. About a month to early.

Re: VR viewers

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:19:27 GMT

Mats_Knutsson wrote:
I got tricked to go 100% Mac which is a hassle...so I have to wait for the VBE slightly longer than my PC-friends but it's coming. Ladies first...PC first...eh!?!?!?
13th is cool date to drop VBE isn't it?
😉

I think more cool things will show up during spring. The climate is really strange here in the south of Sweden. About 150 Canadian Goose just practised formation flying outside my office. About a month to early.

Me too, which makes me feel like a Hasselhof sometimes.

Glad you said it, Mats, VBE for Mac
All good things in life are worth waiting for.

Here it has been snowing, something which only happened once in the last 20 years, 15 years ago.

Re: VR viewers

Ben Cohen — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:25:24 GMT

Mats_Knutsson wrote:
Canadian Goose

Plenty of them flying around this forum... (boom boom..... ting)

How do you get "Tricked" into going Mac and why is it a hassle? (probably a bit too off topic now... but why not?)