AC15 + VR how?

[Anonymous]

hello we are an established archicad practice currently on AC11
we are upgrading to AC 15 very shortly
At the preliminary stage we provide our clients with a rendered walk through movie and an interactive VR quicktime rendered model.

With the removal of the VR option on later AC versions is there still a way to produce rendered VR models?

can VBE produce VR models?
can other renering applications such as artlantis, Vray, Cinema 4D produce interactive rendered VR models with the apple quicktime application

Artlantis or VBE look like the better options for us atm.
we have 3 AC licences and we need a program that isnt going to be too expensive for 3 licensed users.
opinions please

[Karl Ottenstein]

Artlantis Studio (not Render) can produce both VR Panoramas and VR Objects. The rendering abilities and ease of use of Artlantis far surpass ArchiCAD, so, all depending, it can be worth the investment.

The Artlantis license is a numeric code that is activated per-machine over the internet. So, for your 3 station office, you just have to install on all 3 computers, and just deactivate the license on one to activate it on another.

VBE does not produce either panoramas or VR objects. It is a full 3D model walk through viewer and the files are dramatically larger than QuickTime VR's. It gives the recipient the full ability to walk through any aspect of the model, though. This is great for computer savvy recipients. We have had some who "thought" they were computer savvy who were absolutely incompetent at trying to navigate anywhere in VBE. Never ran into that with QT VR's (panoramas or objects).

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks Karl

our archicad supplier has only mentioned to us about VBE with regards to replacement to VR movie for us, i prefer to get an explanation from people who actually use it and are far more familiar with our needs for the VR option, (other users)

the VR portion is a significant part or our clients package at preliminary stage and we are not keen to settle for a progam that is any less that what we currently supply our clients, so we will likely be moving to get Artlantis Studio also

[Anonymous]

Doing renderings of any sort is so superior in artlantis (vs lightworks) it brings the enjoyment back. You can also spin off scaled rendered elevations easily in artlantis.
As for vbe, sometimes you just don't want the client "walking all over the place"- you'll have a lot more to Model!!!

[ThaneThayer]

I have used artlantis, lightworks, QuicktimeVR and VBE to make presentations. We specialize in public assembly buildings.

The lightworks engine has not been updated for years, but is integrated and can make impressive presentations.

Artlantis is current software and continues to improve itself with amazing results and levels of control. However it requires additional coordination with your archicad projects. This coordination time is grossly underestimated.

QuicktimeVR in ArchiCad 11 using Lightworks will make VRs with multiple light sources, complex material shaders and keep the presentation focused. I really want it back, simple/fast/quality. I know I can save back, through 3 versions, and it becomes disconnected from the current .pln (no thanks).

VBE uses Archicad Materials from your 3d window with simple illumination. Global illumination helps. Playback, for the most part, requires video game skills. Younger users love it, older users do not. You can make tracks, but at that point you could just make a fly through with superior rendering/lighting.

All of these methods are dependent on getting your material shaders looking good, quality of lighting, compositional skills, the subjectivity of your eyes and the value of your time. A well composed pencil sketch can beat a poorly produced photograph.

[Karl Ottenstein]

An excellent summary, but I wonder if you can explain this further:

ThaneThayer wrote:
Artlantis is current software and continues to improve itself with amazing results and levels of control. However it requires additional coordination with your archicad projects. This coordination time is grossly underestimated.

I've not seen any major overhead in coordinating ArchiCAD with Artlantis - the 'reference' file concept in Artlantis lets you retain nearly all of your work in Artlantis as the model evolves and you re-render. But, maybe you are referring to something more?

Cheers,
Karl

[Dwight]

A fellow DOES need to have his wits about him generally updating an evolving Artlantis file from design development in Archicad. Particularly with careless material changes made studying finishes in Artlantis and NOT then updated in Archicad. For small changes, since Abvent provides the 'convert to object' feature, it is easy to delete an unwanted element in Artlantis and import just the replacement element from Archicad. It comes in relative to the absolute origin, so there's no placement guesswork.

I think that any extra time unpracticed users experience in Artlanticizing Archicad files is more than made up with the Gallic speed and rendering quality relative to Graphisoft's horrid and inadequate implementation of LightWorks.... not to mention Artlantis flythru motion modulation.

And, yes, you do want to make sure that Artlantis understands the Archicad naming conventions to reliably replace surfaces.

Users shouldn't hesitate to explore Artlantis thru their free, fully functioning demo and decide for themselves.