https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_oBgTheffs&list=PLeDPNRvpG2BGGfzbwn3K1K5VZcIYEUlZz&index=8&t=11s
SHoP Architects looks to leverage InstaLOD to enable the firm to deliver their vision of the industry's future.
SHoP Architects is an award-winning architecture firm based in New York City and has been recognized as one of the most innovative architecture firms in the world. Integrating virtual and augmented reality into their design process allows them to better communicate ideas and designs internally, as well as to their clients, consultants and partners. SHoP’s research team builds custom tools, applications, and experiences to prove out new use- cases for emerging technologies. SHoP believes that the industry is undergoing a transformation that will deeply integrate these experiences into their core business.
At present, their R&D team faces the same limitations as any other industry leader developing augmented and virtual reality applications. There is a constant balancing act between the detailed geometry necessary to convey the appropriate information and lightweight meshes to run smoothly on mobile devices or in VR.
Enabling enterprise companies to implement a sustainable 3D strategy throughout their organization while achieving massive time and cost-savings.
¶ Converting the process.
The company is using various BIM and modeling packages, complicating the task of building a unified data process. InstaLOD immediately impressed SHoP with a comprehensive solution to their complex data and geometry problems. Now that they're using InstaLOD, it doesn’t matter where the data is coming from anymore, and they were able to cut the intermediary conversion process and save both time and cost as a result.
¶ Revolutionary Change Management.
One of the defining characteristics of the architecture design process is the constant revision and iteration of complex models. As the design tends to change on a daily basis, SHoP needs to process models quickly and consistently to produce compelling visuals that help communicate, analyze, and understand design decisions. Previously, the amount of time required to optimize models meant that by the time a VR or AR experience was ready, the design was already out of date. With InstaLOD and the Scene Import Rule technology, those changes can now be processed in a fraction of the time. Additionally, the integration of third-party data, such as window mullion extrusions proved challenging. Manufacturers tend to provide highly-detailed assets which are necessary during the documentation side of the project lifecycle, but for AR or VR experience the data is simply unusable.
Instead of having to pick out these specific components in a manual process, optimize and then re-import, InstaLOD allows for a broad stroke optimization over the entire model. This not only saves time, but also allows model flexibility on the documentation side of the business.
¶ Making Scan Data Work.
SHoP Architects have been creating photogrammetry scans of buildings during the construction process in order to capture a 3D snapshot of the internals of a building before the walls go up. The company aims to bring these models into AR in order to overlay the captured 3D data later in the lifecycle of the project. However, these scans tend to be massive in data and cannot easily be included in virtual experiences without time- consuming adjustments to the source data. By leveraging InstaLOD, the team was able to establish a process to directly bring their scan data into any virtual experience.
"InstaLOD gives our models great performance, and allows us to run optimizations at scale. Their results have proven to be of quality and highly accurate, and InstaLOD's user-experience remains simple and intuitive." - Adam Chernick, SHoP Architects, New York
Watch their their process documentary at www.InstaLOD.com/SHoPArch
First published: 8th Jul 2019