Planners, developers, builders and architects should be looking
to virtual worlds to provide a whole-life model of their project
according to a white paper released today by virtual worlds
solutions provider Daden Limited.
The white paper explores the current use and future opportunity
of virtual worlds to help model the physical world and looks at why
virtual world technology offers a complimentary approach to
existing tools, and possibly the best long-term solution to the
challenges of built environment visualisations.
Whilst conventional fly-throughs and 3D CAD drawing provide
point solutions to specific needs, a virtual world model can
support the entire building process, and on into operations,
maintenance and live use. Uniquely the virtual world model lets
users explore the social dimension of a building project, with
users exploring the model in groups, and making changes to layout
from in-world. The virtual world provides a "living" model that can
be used by the client well after the build project itself.
Daden Client Director Soulla Stylianou says, "From our work with
a number of clients in the Architecture-Engineering-Construction
(AEC) sector we have seen how the virtual model lets stakeholders
walk through the building in their own time, from work or home, on
their own or with others. They can even interact with the
building's systems from lifts and escalators to lighting controls
and computer screens. The result is that they have a far better
appreciation of what the building will be like to work and live
in."
"Most existing visualisation tools do not represent the user as
an avatar so there is no sense of scale. One of the advantages of
the virtual world is that we can build at different scales relative
to the avatar based on the type of use, and experience of the
interaction, that we want the user to have - from 1:1 models to
table top models, and even to the equivalent of a Planning-for-Real
exercise with virtual buildings laid out across a virtual village
hall." adds Daden's Managing Director David Burden.
The paper, which is available for download from Daden's website,
also looks at how the virtual model can be used in a variety of
different ways, not just for visualisation. From the planning model
at the start of the AEC journey to providing a whole life 3D model
of a building to support operations and management throughout the
life of a building.