Category: Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual Reality Requirements when using Modelo on devices for professionals

Virtual reality in the building industry is helping to shape the future of design. Project stakeholders are instantly immersed in a realistic representation of your design so you can communicate your vision clearly. And ultimately, design decisions involving different disciplines can be made quicker with VR. Modelo fully supports mobile VR and we’ve outlined the requirements below to help you get started.

What you need to run VR on Modelo
In order to use the Modelo App for VR capabilities there are certain basic standards your phone or device must have. For one, if you have an iPhone you should have the iPhone 5s or newer. For Android users you should have at the least Samsung S5 or a comparable model. For any Android device you should be running at least Android 5.0 to run our app.

Instant virtual reality for viewing 3D CAD files with Modelo

If you are using the internet, be sure to have a connection that is at least a 3MB/s download speed at the least. However, if you are using a cellular connection, you are going to need a 3G network to run our App and use VR.

Recommended Tech for Modelo App
For the best results, we recommend higher standards for your devices and internet connection. For one, iPhone users should have an iPhone 6 or higher in order to best experience Modelo’s VR capabilities.

For Android users we recommend a Samsung S7, or a comparable model that is running Android 6.0 or later for the best results. Additionally, your Internet connection should be running a 10MB/s download speed. For those using a cellular signal to run the Modelo app for VR capabilities, we recommend a 4G LTE signal to see the best results from our app. Finally, pair Modelo with a Google cardboard and you are all set to view complex 3D designs in VR from any location right from your phone.

Learn first-hand by signing up for Modelo today and viewing your design in VR.

Sketchup in VR, Rhino in VR, & Revit in VR using Modelo

We’re excited to announce that Modelo now supports VR! Using just your mobile device and the very affordable Google Cardboard (or a similar handset-based headset) you can jump directly into a VR experience of your 3D models uploaded to Modelo.

We think you’re going to find the file preparation process simple, straight forward and incredibly fast. In fact, in early demos a number of users have told us it’s the fastest file-on-my-desktop-to-VR preparation process they’ve ever seen. This is in large part, because there is very little preparation required.

VR in Modelo is driven by your 3D comment cards. To create a set of 3D views to immerse your audience into, simply follow the same steps that you would to create a curated share link presentation for a client.

The Steps to VR

Create a series of 3D comment cards you want your audience to use to navigate your model and set them to “Client-Ready”

Open “Share” in Modelo’s tool bar and set the sharing options to “Only Client Ready” and toggle “Restricted Views” to on.

Copy and paste the share link into an email and share with colleagues, consultants or clients.Upon opening the link from your mobile device the browser will direct you to the 3D model view. In the top right corner of the screen there will be a small 3D headset / Google Cardboard icon (see below). Tap the icon and turn your phone sideways (you’ll also see instructions to do this).

Slip your phone into the Google Cardboard. Snap the flap closed and you’re in!

Each of the 3D comments have become views that you can toggle between using the built in button in the Cardboard.

Pro Tips

  • You don’t need to go through the share link process to access a VR view. Once your model is prepared with the comments you want you can just navigate to Modelo through your mobile device’s browser, select the project and then model you want to view and finally select the VR view. However, this means that you will see all of the comment cards that we were created since you aren’t using the share link, which allows curation of the cards.
  • We’ve added a numbered transition slide between each of your 3D comment views (1, 2, 3, etc). If you add text into the note field for a comment this will also be displayed. This is a great way to provide your viewer with additional context before they transition into the next view.
  • Think about where you are in the space within or around your model when you create the 3D comment cards that become the VR views. The viewer cannot move forward or backward in the VR-mode, but they can spin around. So if you create a view directly next to a wall instead of in the middle of a room, a large portion of what the user can see in VR may be the wall they’re next to instead of a full 360° experience of the room.

Experiment! Please let us know what works best for you. We’re excited to see what you do!

Tutorial Videos are now up. 80 seconds flat for Rhino and Sketchup to VR and 120 seconds from Revit to VR. Pretty fast if you ask us. Check out the videos below:

Revit

Sketchup