New cloud service brings models into the mainstream, viewable in any web browser
Tridify has extended its BIM to XR Processing Service so BIM models can now be made ‘instantly’ available online and sharable via a web link. The new Web VR option automatically generates an interactive 3D model from an IFC file and makes it accessible via a URL, ready to be embedded on a web page, sent via email or text and viewable on a mobile phone.
By sending a link to a 3D model instead of a file, users can publish/unpublish their models and manage their visibility, giving greater control over how the models are used. Tridify points out that models cannot be copied and intellectual property rights are better protected.
The service is targeted at AEC professionals, but Tridify explains that the new option also creates countless opportunities for non-technical audiences. 3D models are easier to share internally, externally, with customers or consumers, on mobiles, tablets, desktops or VR headsets says the Finnish developer. Tridify will also be providing various web viewers to enable a model to be shown in different ways to different user groups, depending on the end use and skill level.
To make a model ready to view online, users simply upload an IFC file and click ‘publish’. No additional applications or programming skills required, says Tridify.
“Our new Web VR option solves a problem that the industry has struggled with for many years,” says Alexander Le Bell, Tridify CEO. “By making 3D BIM models instantly available and viewable in any browser, technical barriers are removed, they become a new commodity and are propelled into the mainstream. This will help to dramatically improve communication and collaboration workflows for architect, construction and property companies.
“3D models can now be created from a BIM model in less than two minutes and shared with a global audience via WhatsApp, for example,” Le Bell adds. “The new service starts from $20 per month, which is enough to publish models of several small projects or a model of one medium size project. Soon it will become normal to share 3D models all the time, with anyone, anywhere.”
WSP, the multidisciplinary design company, is an early user of the new service. “WSP uses the Tridify Web VR option for fast and effective VR creation on early design stages to ease the communication process with our clients,” says Roope Syvälahti, Project Manager at WSP Finland Oy. “This innovation also opens up a great variety of possibilities for further development of VR models as BIM communication tools, also containing BIM data and not only being a pure visualisation.”
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our email newsletter or print / PDF magazine for FREE
