IFC and VR
I've been having a look at options for getting IFC into a VR environment (specifically MetaQuest).
The conclusion I've got to is that it's not easy - unless you have Autodesk Forma (formerly Construction Cloud) matched with "Autodesk Workshop XR" from the Quest app store.
Does anyone have any insight into this, it seems like a bit of a gap in the FOSS world?
Tagged:
Comments
Not 100% sure, but maybe...
https://share.google/aimode/SJt3xLWbj5QXNeJ7z
Unfortunately that answer references things that no longer exist.
I think the solution would have to be an app that can be hosted on the Meta store. The additional challenge is how to host any models so that the app can then fetch them for viewing.
This VR space seems pretty barren at the moment, Trimble even discontinued their Viewer entirely in September last year.
Where I say free, it is just free to download install. There may be in-app purchases required. Haven't looked that deeply. Where it is paid, they appear to offer features over and above a simple object viewer. i.e. direct loading of IFC, or specific BIM related functionality.
And here's one other option I just discovered: Unreal + Datasmith CAD Importer plugin directly supports IFC files, and Unreal can obviously do VR for pretty much any target headset.
Thanks @sjb007 for the research. I'd spotted most on your list - I'm being a cheapskate here and looking for something free.
Glimpse GLB is new to me and looks like a nice quick and easy solution.
Simlab is paired with Simlab Composer which is paid (although they have a trial).
Interestingly, Iris VR had "Prospect" which seems to have been bought by Autodesk and morphed into "Workshop XR".
I need to explore the Unreal idea - it seems like the most promising one in the long term.
I forgot to mention TwinMotion which I assume you have seen? If not: https://www.twinmotion.com/uses/architecture also mentions having a VR mode. Free to use for up to 1 million revenue USD.
Probably a much better option that makes full use of the Unreal engine without having to learn how to build Unreal applications.
I love Twinmotion.
If it only had *.blend and *.FCstd import or would offer Direct Synchronization AddOns with Datasmith (already obsolete ?) or there new connection system (?) for Blender and FreeCAD. Like it has for most proprietary Apps (at least Windows only).
You will be losing textrures. Other formats are better in this
I think exporting from Blender to fbx or glb/gltf, then importing that into TwinMotion would be about as good as it would get for now.
Maybe if/when IFC5 (usd) is common it will become a direct import option.
I was never totally happy with FBX so far - although it was so far the best export option between 3D Apps or CAD to 3D.
Everything related to Materials was always pretty lossy. Things like transparency or illumination values are mixed up, most think transparent means 100% while others think that's opake. Even worse for color values black vs white. Textures will get lost or if not, likely assigned to the wrong material slot. Texture scaling usually lost. Also problematic is the translation between coordinate systems, CW vs CCW, Z's up vs Y's up.
Other 3D formats were usually even worse overall, regarding geometry quality or translation of naming and hierarchies.
So far I had best results to Twinmotion by C4D or FBX though.
I did no more really test Synchronization/Updating and loss, over latest years and new versions though. Which wasn't even 100% reliable with Datasmith, which seems already deprecated for their newer Sync System (?) AFAIR.
I still hope for USD.
So far USD's implementation was still mostly rudiment-ally. I should test USD and GLTF again. Looks like Twinmotion has no USD support. But USD and IFC is still "under consideration" on the roadmap.