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Archi-Me: CAD to virtual world

airport2 There’s no denying the demand by business for virtual environments that allow for replication of real world products and processes. Forterra’s OLIVE platform, TeamingStream’s NoviCraft, Second Life and OpenSim grids are just four environments used extensively by business for prototyping products or business.

Archi-ME is a new entrant in that space. Created by UK-based company MOOFU, its stated purpose is “a new solution that enables designers to create fully interactive avatar-based virtual environments from 3D CAD models”. If you spent a couple of minutes watching the video below, you’ll see Archi-Me in action. Those who’ve used Second Life in particular will see some big similarities around appearance and the ability to manipulate objects and change textures on the fly. In fact, there’s very little from the demo that can’t be replicated in Second Life. Which isn’t the point really: this seems an application designed for building and architecture firms who want an easy way to bring their CAD-based designs into an avatar-driven 3D environment.

To get some more details, I shot some questions through to Nick Palfrey, Managing Director at MOOFU:

Lowell: Can you give a ball-park estimate on typical cost of something like a basic house walk-through?

Nick: For applications where the client is using toolkit functionality and requires very little tailoring, which would be the case for many Architects we would be looking at under £5k. We also design custom interfaces and environments for larger organisations such as property developers, with budgets of up to £25k as new avatars, functions, networking and design options are all re-visited.

Lowell: Is there any intention to allow people to own their own copy of Archi-Me i.e. pay a license fee to create their own content rather than rely on it arriving on a DVD.

Nick: We plan to offer an import system at some point so that users can generate their own environments through their CAD models, we should stress that we are not replicating Second Life and the system will not have tools for building spaces in it. Archi-Me is all about showcasing designs and for that reason, we rely on the client or user having a thorough understanding of either 3DS Max or ArchiCad. It is also important to note that only we can package the system up for web application and hosting.

Lowell: What is the fundamental architecture that Archi-Me is based on – is it a ground-up proprietary virtual environment or does it leverage say Forterra’s OLIVE platform or something similar?

Nick: We use Unity 3D to compile our code and for all of MOOFU’s game work, we stick with this. All code, assets and scripts are customised as well as a number of SDKs being used. We use Unity because it compiles the data instantly on-screen and for visualising large buildings with multiple cameras, this functionality is very helpful!

Nick: Are you able to disclose who the client or clients in Australasia have been?

Lowell: Yes… Dr Kenn Fisher Associate Professor Melbourne University and Director of Learning Futures Woods Bagot Architects, Melbourne. This has been a project organised by him with a number of international stakeholders. More information on Kenn is available at Rubida.net!

Popularity: 1% [?]

LOCUS

Over on the Official Linden Blog, the latest instalment in their Stories from Second Life series features LOCUS, a collection of architectural designs in one area, with a core emphasis on art installations and featured artists.

locus

It seems a liitle strange though, that nowhere is a SLURL provided for LOCUS in the story (here’s one for you).

I had a brief catch-up in-world with LOCUS’ DB Bailey, who was unaware of the Linden Lab story (which also seems strange). Robin Linden also states in the story that LOCUS has plans to move to its own island – DB Bailey’s response to that is: “no we plan to stay here next to our friends at CETUS.

It’s certainly a worthy project to feature – the attention to detail and level of creativity with the builds is superb. We’re hoping to catch up with DB Bailey again in coming weeks to discuss the LOCUS project further.

Check it out in-world

Popularity: 3% [?]

Oscar Niemeyer and Second Life

Oscar Niemeyer’s work has gained many plaudits over the years and his architecture is now gaining some attention in Second Life, thanks to Hidenori Watanave and a student team from Tokyo Metropolitan University (Kanako Hayashi, Kaname Shimizu, Makiko Suzuki, Ryuta Kawahara and Yohei Nakano).

A 3D image database of Brazilian Niemeyer’s work is being developed and the team will spend a week in Brazil in early August. It’s all part of the 100th anniversary of the exchange relationship between Japan and Brazil. The current build is quite striking so I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.

Check it out in-world.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Hidenori Watanave’s architecture

Hidenori Watanave is a Japan-based architect undertaking “experimental demonstration and research for the possibility of the architecture and environmental design in Metaverse” according to the information he sent me. He’s created a machinima that beautifully summarises the work he and his colleagues have done in Second Life:

360-degree photoscapes are far from new in Second Life but his work takes that concept one step further.

Popularity: 2% [?]