Earlier this year, Autodesk announced the release of LIVE, a visualization service that turns Revit models into fully interactive 3D models using the Stingray video game engine. At the time, the cloud-based technology included features for turning Revit models into fully explorable 3D environments, but included no direct support for virtual reality devices.
Now the company has announced direct support for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive virtual reality headsets. If you download LIVE’s new public beta version, one click uploads the Revit model to the LIVE service and a second click toggles the VR connectivity.
At last year’s Autodesk University, I was shown a similar LIVE workflow where a few simple clicks would allow an architect to view and explore her design at 1:1 scale in virtual reality. Once the design has been explored, the architect can return to the model in Revit and make revisions, then quickly iterate the model again using LIVE and explore it in VR.
Think of it as a large-scale version of the rapid prototyping workflow for designers that uses 3D printing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=1hB2IMns1qw
With this release, Autodesk is taking a big step toward enabling the use of VR for iterative design, virtual design and construction, and marketing purposes.
As the company explained in an official blog post, “We’ve made it available and affordable for the architects and virtual design and construction (VDC) Revit professionals looking to implement VR. So, if you’ve got a system that can support HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, you’re ready for Autodesk LIVE for VR.”
