OBJ Exporter for Revit

Here's a link to the OBJ exporter from Revit I use when pushing models up to the Augment app.

A free Revit 2014/2015/2016 add-in to export Projects and Families to OBJ format.

The images show the resulting OBJs from the Revit Sample Projects inserted into Octane Render and Blender.

New RevitOBJExport2 

– Material main textures and bump map textures exported.
– Materials now exported for elements in linked Revit files.
– Level of detail supported.

It works great and is a lot simpler to use compared to some other exporters that I've tried.

Check out these previous posts on Augmented Reality.

More AR

More on AR and VR

Enjoy your AR experience...

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More AR

I've been playing with the AR app I've downloaded from AUGMENT

The opportunities to use this tool are endless!

Here's a mini 14 storey tower on my desk which you can hold in your hand, move it around and even see inside the building...

More on AR and VR....

Here is an image of one of my desks of late. 

I have a few desks.... I like the stand up desk, it's where I go when I need to get away from my usual desk  (clutter) to be able to focus on something, in this case setting up the Virtual Reality software with our new Alienware laptop and OculusRift goggles.

Recently I've been playing with Augmented Reality more, especially since now there are apps for your phone and web sites that make it so much easier to push your model into AR. 

I downloaded the Augment app and set up a trial account with them. 
Works great! Very similar to when I first tried AR in 2012 (check out this blog posting) 

I tried it on a number of different files that I have specific for this type of application, the Revit models I have are typically stripped out of views and also interior components so it's just the shell. The tower model I tries works well when exported at STL, actually all the models work well as STL expect the materials do not show up. OBJ works good, the materials show up great however for the larger files it takes too long to load on the app on my phone.

I can see huge potential with this technology such as site planning, promotional and marketing material, visualization aid for clients, design options etc...And it's lots of fun and easy to do!

Very impressive, it's a quick way to impress people!

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Capture your environment as a 3D model

This is pretty cool, Bobby Harris from wr7productions put me onto this.

"Structure SDK" is a device you can attach to your ipad that will allow you to capture your environment... not only as an image but as a 3D model.... think about that for a minute!

"Capture dense 3D models with the push of a button. Structure allows you to capture dense geometry. This enables you to simulate real world physics. The possibilities are incredible."

You can use this device to scan a room and accurately measure it's dimensions or an object such as a table and virtually (are we talking about augmented reality here?) place that table in your room using your ipad!

Architecturally and for interior design the possibilities are endless! Oh and it can also be used for gaming...

"The Structure Sensor enables games where virtual objects can actually go behind real world objects. It’s going to get hard to know where reality ends and imagination begins."

Check out the video, this device is affordable and easy to use.... I want one! BAD!

http://structure.io/

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Augmented Reality using Autodesk Showcase

I have been recently trying out the Augmented Reality (AR) plug in for Autodesk’s Showcase 2013 software.

I first saw this in 2010 at Autodesk University at the Autodesk Lab’s booth. I was quite amazed with it then and thought the possibilities are endless.

Basically what you can do is “Augment” reality by placing a digital model in the real world using a digital video camera or a Webcam.

Currently the AR plug in is still in development and only available as a Beta download from Autodesk Lab’s web site. I tried it out on the sample files that came with Showcase, namely a house and a car (I prefer the car, it looks cooler!). I also looked at how to bring in my own Revit Models,  if you own the Design Suite Ultimate I believe there is a tool available to directly export your model to Showcase…. For those of you who only own Revit all you have to do is export your model to a FBX (3Ds Max) format, and download the free trial of Showcase, that’s what I did.

Imported the model into Showcase, you then have to create a group in showcase so the “model” stays together, make the background “Infinite”, this allows for your webcam to pick up your background. Under the AR plug in you can then setup the “Marker” which your model will be placed upon, a marker can be any type of image. I used QR code and also a simple “X” I printed out as well, they both work well.

Enable the AR Mode and point your camera to your printed copy of the “Marker”. I had to use an external webcam for this as I don’t think the webcam on my laptop was good enough quality but I did still get it to work. I also found the external web cam easier to move around and point to the marker.

What you should be able to see is your model placed on your marker, you can pick up the marker and move it around, move the camera towards or away from the marker, introduce other markers and have multiple models displayed.

I can see us using this for conceptual site development where we may have a range of building concepts and look at alternate site placement in real time. It is also possible to  layout multiple buildings such as a College or University campus, we can then look at options in real time and see how each 3D model of the buildings interact with each other…Awesome!

Check out my Vimeo video, that quality of the video is not great but you get the idea!: http://vimeo.com/49419565

Using technology to our Advantage!

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