News From Arch Virtual
The latest in architectural visualization and virtual reality application development.
Winy Maas and Philip Rosedale Discuss Architecture in Virtual Worlds at “John Edwards Lecture”
The Architecture Foundation's "John Edwards Lecture" is designed to bring a global leading architect into conversation with a contemporary from another discipline. Last year, it featured Thom Mayne, Morphosis Architects, and Frédéric Flamand, Director, Le Ballet...
Despite Cease & Desist Order, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Spirit of Innovation Lives On
The Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum, which was recently granted a licensing agreement with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (and later attained official 501(c)3 non-profit status from the IRS) was served a cease & desist order by lawyers representing the Frank...
New Build and Upcoming Events in Unity3D / jibe
Tomorrow (Dec. 2nd), I'll be joining Kyle Gomboy from ReactionGrid and Anders Gronstedt from Gronstedt Group for their 'Train for Success' meeting. We will be meeting at the new space I recently finished for the Gronstedt Group - built with Unity3D, and published to...
Video Tutorial: How to Import Revit into Unity3D
This tutorial provides an overview of the process involved with importing architectural models into Unity3d. In this case, we're using Revit Architecture 2009, but the process is relatively universal, and can be applied to just about any architectural CAD or BIM...
Using Unity3D to Access Second Life and OpenSim on the Web
A few weeks ago, I was given a demo of a project called 'Canvas,' by former Linden Lab manager Chris Collins (Tipodean Technologies). After clicking a url he gave me and logging in, I was suddenly standing on Architecture Island (in Second Life) - yet I was in a web...
[Update – Kits 1 and 2 are no longer available, but a new updated Kit will be available soon!]
[Update - Kits 1 and 2 are no longer available, but a new updated Kit will be available soon!]
BIM in the Cloud
Imagine dropping a camera into an architectural model, and immediately walking through the design in stunning, photorealistic quality, with no lag, and the highest possible quality settings - on an old, low end machine? Cloud-based rendering has the capacity to turn...
EXPLORE IT! Career Academy: Immersive, Interactive Education in Second Life and OpenSim
The machinima featured above does a great job of showcasing the new ExploreIt! project, opening this weekend (more info about the opening event below!). Santa Barbara City College challenged us to figure out how to leverage the immersive capacity of a virtual...
Hands Free 3D: Open Source Predecessor of Microsoft Kinect?
$2,000 is the current bounty for free/open Microsoft Kinect drivers (via Adafruit Industries), which really jarred some memories for me. Whatever happened to 'Hands Free 3D' - the "prototypical interface" that enabled the control of virtual worlds "hands free"...
Multi-User Unity3D Meeting Space
I just posted this new build, using some of the new features of Unity 3 and ReactionGrid's latest release of Jibe. Still a work in progress, but you're welcome to stop in and critique! Click HERE or on the image below to enter.
Realtime Architectural Visualization with Unity3D
[UPDATE: We have now published an eBook about Architectural Visualization with Unity3D (including a chapter about Oculus Rift) that can be purchased HERE.] I've been swamped these past few weeks with a variety of projects in Unity3D, Second Life, and OpenSim - (with...
A Place for Half-hunches
I think the ideas explained in this video are precisely what make Second Life so incredibly powerful and important. Second Life is like a massive, international coffee house where people from all around the world are prototyping and sharing their half-hunches -...
Autodesk Talks 3D with CEO of Unity 3D
Talk about deja vu... Remember when Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and VP Phil Bernstein made appearances in Second Life? It was 4 years ago, but just imagine the software giant stumbling into a place where they had to check their products at the door and start using prims...
Works completed, works in progress – Second Life, OpenSim, Unity, and jibe
What an incredibly fun and productive year it has been, designing and developing content in Second Life, OpenSim, jibe and Unity! This year has brought in a wide range of different project types and clients to work with, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity...
Transverge! Marcos Novak responds to “Architects in Cyberspace, or not”
I just received this very detailed and inspiring note from Marcos Novak, Professor and Director at transLAB at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in response to a post last week, "Architects in Cyberspace, or not." Many thanks to Marcos for taking the time...
Unity 3 Feature Preview – Beast Lightmapping
Check out this feature preview video demonstrating Beast Lightmapping in Unity 3. During the past few days, I've spent countless hours lightmapping a scene for a Unity project I'm working on. The scene looks fantastic, and performance is tenfold better than depending...