3D Product Configuration Visualizers

[MaxJones3]

I am in the middle of setting up a Wix website for the small structures I want to sell.  I want to put each model in a 3D Product Configurator so that clients can select the model(s) they are interested in and modify it according to key features (size, color, siding type, roofing type, etc.)  Does anyone know about this?  There seem to be a lot of details and many of the sites are not straight forward as to:

• Whether they accept Revit files directly.
• If I need to render them in a program like Lumion first.
• If you are paying for a workstation or you pay by the model & feature options.

Any advice on this would be welcome.

[MachielAEC · Accepted solution]

What you are asking for is a custom development or a 3rd party app.

Revit native files aren’t web friendly, hence a lot of people do pdf’s & images mapped to different settings and if you want to have a 3d model you need to look at alternatives.

forge can be a solution, same for Unity or Unreal.

believe you are looking for something similar to this https://www.shedmate.com.au/home, was done by BirdTools if I’m not mistaken.

[MaxJones3 · Accepted solution]

That's a super cool site and design concept. I'm going to spend more time looking at that.

What I am imagining as of now looks more like: 

https://www.tuffshed.com/products/#/configurator/Garden%20Barn

or rendered really well like:

https://www.tuffshed.com/products/#/sheds

So three questions:

1) There seem to be three types of third parties:

• Sell\install the plugin & you do the configuration at a workstation; just pay for the plugin maintenance.
• Do the work on the model, sell\install the plugin; pay for the models, features, and plugin maintenance.
• Custom create the configurator, do the model work; you just pay for plugin services when needed.

I think the last one is the best even though it is more expensive up front.  However I have seen some reasonable workstation versions.  Which option do you think is most reliable long term?

2) Is Blender & Lumion similar to Unity, Unreal, and Forge? Which of these is easiest to learn for Revit people and is an asset for future projects? Affordable?

3) If you put a Revit file into one of these rendering programs, does it create a file that a configurator can work with or does it need to be converted to 3rd file type?

If you know of a resource that covers all this so you don't have to spend time telling me old news I will gladly use it. But I really appreciate your help & response.   

There are other sites similar to this, they just happen to have both.

[MachielAEC · Accepted solution]

I can’t really say what will be the best option for you, you will need to look at the costs and workflows of all options.

In essence these platforms needs programming experience. Forge can read native Revit files, Unity & Unreal have workflows to take Rvt files into other formats.

my analysis on the websites provided:

- They used a webviewer, something like the above or a threejs website.

- uploaded various models (all your options)

- mapped different sizes to different models.

- buy button will most likely create an order where the company then do the installation based on standard drawings.

Unity & Unreal are gaming engines which gives you great potential to develop various solutions (websites, AR/VR, etc)

Forge is Autodesks integration platform where one of the extensions allows to develop an Autodesk Viewer.