Augmented Reality

[sconroy]

I've been trying to find a suitable platform for augmented reality and have been hitting a wall. Everything I've read seems to indicate that autodesk with the Ipad app had a possible solution that it is no longer available.

Does anyone have any feedback on software / processes to get my Infraworks model to a platform that can be viewed on site?

Thanks,

Sean
Dell precision M6700 Intel Core i7-3740QM CPU @ 2.70Ghz -16GB RAM Windows 10 Pro - 64Bit
NVIDIA Qardro K4000 video card dual monitor setup
Civil 3D 2019.3.1 w/ AutoCAD 2019.1.2 / Infrastructure Design suite Premium 2019

[ToddRogers-WPM]

You have come to the right place. See link below...

https://www.torch.app/

[sconroy]

@ToddRogers-WPM Thanks for the lead on that, I'll investigate the app further.

Having said that, one of the biggest problems I've encountered with any AR solution is how to geo-locate an interface (like a tablet/ Ipad) with a certain amount of accuracy vertically. I'm thinking that this may require some survey equipment to do and am open to this possibility.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Sean
Dell precision M6700 Intel Core i7-3740QM CPU @ 2.70Ghz -16GB RAM Windows 10 Pro - 64Bit
NVIDIA Qardro K4000 video card dual monitor setup
Civil 3D 2019.3.1 w/ AutoCAD 2019.1.2 / Infrastructure Design suite Premium 2019

[ToddRogers-WPM]

I am tagging @Matt__W . He is a genius at this.

[Matt__W]

Welp.... unfortunately, as we all know, the iPad app is dead. The good news is that Tony, Josh and Paul from Torch were at AU this past November and got an earful about the need for an InfraWorks geo-located AR model. Now, whether or not they develop something (or better yet, team up with Autodesk) is another story. (Fun fact: The guys from Torch have been to Autodesk Portland at least one time so who knows. Anything is possible) But they're definitely open to developing something like the old iPad app. They've seen and understand the need for it. Someone at AU actually still had the app on their iPad and was able to show them exactly what it was all about.

Hopefully something comes of all this.

[JamesMaeding]

@Matt__W 

Wow, just saw this thread after trying to find the IW 360 that surely was on Android by now.

Nope. Guess I'll have to go to other vendors.

I saw the xyht article here and thought for sure that was some updated Autodesk product until I read it.

thx

[sconroy]

@Matt__W 

if you do come across a solution, please share... 

Thanks,

Sean
Dell precision M6700 Intel Core i7-3740QM CPU @ 2.70Ghz -16GB RAM Windows 10 Pro - 64Bit
NVIDIA Qardro K4000 video card dual monitor setup
Civil 3D 2019.3.1 w/ AutoCAD 2019.1.2 / Infrastructure Design suite Premium 2019

[JamesMaeding]

@sconroy 

I'm thinking the vGIS platform, at like $100 a month per user, is the best I have come across.

I only read about it, but its seems that people are essentially making Unity games and hooking them with AR mechanisms. The software Revitzo does this too.

[mzjensen · Accepted solution]

Not sure what your budget is, but you could look into Trimble SiteVision. That would give you GPS accuracy.

[JamesMaeding]

@mzjensen 

great tip, that looks so cool. Not too expensive either at $5k first year and $2k after.

thanks!

[rich_reactar]

Hey team.

We've been working on an augmented reality app for residential construction. Currently for simple design visualisation at small and full scale, but lots more we're working on.

We're in beta in NZ right now but if you're keen to give it a try just go to https://www.homear.io/download. Our sample project is here.

Not sure if it fills the gap you guys have been discussing. Shout if you have specific needs and we can talk about it.

Looking to talk to Autodesk about integration but for now it's a 3D export (FBX, GLTF, 3DS etc) and processed for AR at our end.

Cheers

[JamesMaeding]

@rich_reactar 

I've looked at a few so far and the issues seem to be how the data is loaded and served to the apps.

When they work, it all looks great. There always seems to be some issue on the ones I have seen so far though.

Some are made for GIS systems, some need expensive GPS receivers.

One interesting issue is what the app considers the ground. If a site is already graded, the online services like Bing will not have that surface.

My thing is I want to be able to define a custom ground surface and existing imagery, essentially what Infraworks does.

Then I want to add solids from dwg or fbx. I don't really want to use an online data system like BIM 360 or similar. I have no problem uploading my model to the cloud, again, like Infraworks, but I need to be able to model thing in some desktop environment, then see in AR.

[andrewofabley]

@mzjensen 

I've used Trimble Sitevision for this, and have tested it first-hand to check the accuracy of geolocated content. It's very good.

I pulled content from Infraworks through into Sitevision, using the IFC format. Subsurface features with full object attribution, buildings .etc

I didn't test textured surfaces, however I'd say it'll probably work fine. Just be sure to optimize the data appropriately for AR / Mobile use. I think 5 million Polys might be the current upper limit?

The challenge in my estimation is writing the IFC correctly to make use of all its capabilities.

[JamesMaeding]

@andrewofabley 

How did that go with simple solids from acad?

We wrote our own civil 3d modeling tools, and end up with solids and native entities.

I have not used IFC. I have used IMX which is generally for cvil3d items like surfaces.

Is there a workflow you saw for regular acad solids? thx

[andrewofabley]

@JamesMaeding 

I believe it would work fine for solids - I created my IFC from GIS data such as pipe networks and building footprints, simply by extruding / sweeping them. I didn't actually perform this operation in AutoCAD, but I anticipate it being no different (although in my experience, the topology is a tad rough from AutoCAD). The resulting geometry looked identical to that which I could create in Civil 3D. Given that Trimble Sitevision accepts this file format, it's certainly worth a go.

I found using a format agnostic spatial tool such as FME to automate this made it a lot less stressful (and not manual). That let me form all my 3D geometry based on the attribution data - call it semi parametricisim.

That said, I believe this would convert over fine from Civil3D, depending on the output format from Civil3D. Obviously retaining rich attribution for viewing was very important for GIS data, so we went to IFC for this reason.

[JamesMaeding]

@andrewofabley 

The thing is, I already have highly automated tools in acad to make the solids from civil engineering data.

So wondering if your platform handles those, direct from .dwg.

Its the details that have hung everyone up on this. Try on a couple 3d boxes and swept solids drawn in state plane coords.

thx

[andrewofabley]

@JamesMaeding 

I've tested this and can confirm that the process does work for regular AutoCAD solids. I imagine it would work for Civil3D surfaces too. I haven't done this in a particular projection, however I could if necessary.

If you had some test data, I could run it through and see what pops out.

[mzjensen]

@andrewofabley- I've been wondering how well it works, so thanks for confirming.

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I pulled content from Infraworks through into Sitevision, using the IFC format.

---

I'm curious how you got from InfraWorks to IFC?

[andrewofabley]

@mzjensen 

I have some sophisticated ETL software, within which I build these custom workflows 😉

I'll either read the Infraworks sqlite database in, or use 3D model exports.

I can then write into the IFC schema, apply attribution and optimize the 3D geometry, and make sure all the spatial referencing is shored up.

When loading into Trimble SiteVision, everything comes through nicely. No manual positioning or mucking around.

[mzjensen]

Gotcha. Very cool.