We have had AI so how about VR?

[northwest]

I know, I know, there are plenty of people including members of this place who live in their own version of reality but I am talking about VR headsets, the most prevalent one being the Meta Quest, with good reason too it is significantly cheaper than the Apple offering by some margin. Now I love tech, all tech, so it was a surprise to some of my friends that I had never experienced a VR headset.
Last week I went to visit my youngest son, we hadn't talked in a while because we are so alike and he has taken ill so not the time to have a row. Anyhow personal stuff aside I went with him when he went toi collect his latest purchase, a Meta Quest 3 headset. I didn't even try it out, we talked about it and he described to me the technical aspects of it but it was enough to get my interest ignited, so much so that John Lewis 12 months interest free beckoned and it arrived yesterday.

Blew_me_away! This is just stunning, absolutely amazing. I cannot begin to describe this, it is smart and I mean really smart. It has mapped out my living room perfectly so knows where all the obstacles are, has the ceiling and walls perfectly positioned and when you start to play the game that comes with it, it uses your room parameters for positioning. Okay I don't like "computer games" generally but this is another dimension, in the Batman game that comes with it (an 18 gb download!) it "skins" your arms and hands, truly amazing. I also tried some of the (literally) immersive documentaries and they were truly fascinating. I haven't begun to scratch the surface of it's capabilities yet and not yet experienced a movie but Mrs NW who wouldn't know one end of a computer game from another was totally fascinated by it and spent as much time as I did exploring it's capabilities. The headset itself it just the start of it really, you need other bits to go along with it, a better headset halo for starters and then lens inserts if you wear glasses (these are almost a must) a bigger battery is also on the wishlist but not essential.

Now that I have experienced this Virtual Reality environment and given that I understand AI and have a grip of it's potential, the two combined are truly world changing and I can see why some teenagers have real issues with social interactions and "normal" society, this is so far removed from reality as to become a parallel dimension that bears no resemblance to the real world, I can see that switching between the two can prove, for some at least, problematic.

 

[rcx132]

My employer took us out for a VR experience day. I was so amazed that two weeks later, I bought two headsets to play multiplayer with my kids. As you mentioned, Meta is the best because the games download straight to the headset, with nothing else needed.

You’re literally inside the world, looking around at the beautiful landscapes. It’s excellent for shooting games as your controllers become your pistols; you see the pistols in your hands, and it looks and feels so real. You have to move your body to rotate and crouch, adding to the feeling of reality.

Multiplayer is amazing because the figures you’re playing against are real people. They move like real people, they think, they try to outsmart and outmaneuver you, and they talk, allowing you to coordinate battle plans with your team. It feels like a real sport.

 

[JOEPRO]

I am lead design manager in a large construction company. We use VR for 3D model viewing. It is an essential tool.

For example we can carry out matterport progress scans on site which are like Google streetview sort of thing inside and outside the buildings. We can then walk through and view any construction stage of the project in VR! So for example of client wants to see exactly where a duct was run in a screed years after completion they can see this in 3D on a desktop PC or in VR.

Note that every single switch, bolt and duct etc is modelled in 3D. The entire building and site all in 3D.

Additionally we also clash detect / walk through a design model in 3D. So we can check that architects and engineers are showing things correctly and to look for mistakes like sockets floating in front of glass.

We can take this technology very far. For example by uploading videos and audio into any computers modeled within the model. So if you are in the room in VR you can see and hear those playing on the screens. And we can also have virtual model reviews with our clients remotely. So we are all in the model viewing it in VR and speaking to each other's avatar in the model.

I can also be in a 3D model and raise an observation or design issue to our designers by clicking on it. They all get an email and it's tracked on software until closed out. There is also digital twins and other MEP advantages that are beyond the scope of this thread but VR is used heavily in large scale construction now and mandated on government projects in UK.

 

[Keith 66]

I have long thought that violent video games take away the gravity & real consequences of violence. Add in vr porn that would be a bottomless rabbit hole to fall into, Going to be some right sickos out there who cannot distinguish virtual or reality itself. Where will it end?

 

[Morrisman]

At 64 years old I’m reluctant to admit I play a good 3+ hours a night video gaming on my PS5.

I’ve never tried VR though, I wonder if it’s compatible with any of the more modern video games. It certainly sounds interesting.

I remember playing a shoot em up game once, 20 years ago, with headphones on, and was amazed that I could hear the spent brass from my machine gun tinkling on the floor over the left shoulder. I kept looking round, thinking something was actually there.

 

[Morrisman]

I am lead design manager in a large construction company. We use VR for 3D model viewing. It is an essential tool.

For example we can carry out matterport progress scans on site which are like Google streetview sort of thing inside and outside the buildings. We can then walk through and view any construction stage of the project in VR! So for example of client wants to see exactly where a duct was run in a screed years after completion they can see this in 3D on a desktop PC or in VR.

Note that every single switch, bolt and duct etc is modelled in 3D. The entire building and site all in 3D.

Additionally we also clash detect / walk through a design model in 3D. So we can check that architects and engineers are showing things correctly and to look for mistakes like sockets floating in front of glass.

We can take this technology very far. For example by uploading videos and audio into any computers modeled within the model. So if you are in the room in VR you can see and hear those playing on the screens. And we can also have virtual model reviews with our clients remotely. So we are all in the model viewing it in VR and speaking to each other's avatar in the model.

I can also be in a 3D model and raise an observation or design issue to our designers by clicking on it. They all get an email and it's tracked on software until closed out. There is also digital twins and other MEP advantages that are beyond the scope of this thread but VR is used heavily in large scale construction now and mandated on government projects in UK.

Sounds like a far more hi-tech version of Google Sketchup, which I used to design our house in the Phils with. You can do walk thru with that, look around inside a building design to see exactly what things look like first hand.

 

[Seadog]

It's certainly come a long way since I experienced it in 1992. Running, then, on Sun RISC-based hardware.

 

[Greeves246]

Does it work if you have monocular vision?

 

[Tinbasherdan]

We had vr in the yard, if you needed to see where a certain part fit and the drawings weren’t clear you went to see the hobbit in the VR cabin. Instead of goggles the room was 360 deg projector screens and he flew you through the boat to the compartment and you could look in full size at the area you were working on. Mind blowing the first few times I did it, made me motion sick though as he flew through at Mach 3

 

[rcx132]

At 64 years old I’m reluctant to admit I play a good 3+ hours a night video gaming on my PS5.

One of the things I love about VR is the age range of players. It’s amazing to see 10-year-olds and 60-year-olds teaming up, working together to defeat the opposing team.

 

[Morrisman]

One of the things I've enjoyed about VR is the age range. We have 10 years old playing with 60 year olds playing on the same team, working together to defeat the other team.

Can the headset be used on all games, or are there special games produced just for VR?

I only ever play on my own, I’ve never tried the online gaming thing.

 

[rcx132]

Can the headset be used on all games, or are there special games produced just for VR?

Generally it's special games for VR. Some games have been tweaked to work on VR, for example, my kids sometimes play VR Minecraft.

I only ever play on my own, I’ve never tried the online gaming thing.

Multiplayer gaming brings a new dimension. I never ever thought I'd do it, but now I'm on a VR team, there's a league, there are cash awards, there are coaches!

It can be addictive. I'm restricting myself to 45 minutes a day now to stop it interfering with my family life and other hobbies.

 

[JOEPRO]

Sounds like a far more hi-tech version of Google Sketchup, which I used to design our house in the Phils with. You can do walk thru with that, look around inside a building design to see exactly what things look like first hand.

Sketchup can be viewed in VR also.

But these are federated models each created in revit. So this image for example is a combination of structures, architects, furniture and MEP models all combined together:



This is a realistic model. So for example if you go to an aircon unit it will be the exact mitsibushi model from them in 3D and when you click on it, it will include the site tag name and install details and cert etc. If you went to a steel beam it is the exact fabricator detail and bolt sizes etc.

 

[Robotstar5]

I have long thought that violent video games take away the gravity & real consequences of violence. Add in vr porn that would be a bottomless rabbit hole to fall into, Going to be some right sickos out there who cannot distinguish virtual or reality itself. Where will it end?

They did something similar in the 1983 film Brainstorm

 

[fizzy]

I know, I know, there are plenty of people including members of this place who live in their own version of reality but I am talking about VR headsets, the most prevalent one being the Meta Quest, with good reason too it is significantly cheaper than the Apple offering by some margin. Now I love tech, all tech, so it was a surprise to some of my friends that I had never experienced a VR headset.
Last week I went to visit my youngest son, we hadn't talked in a while because we are so alike and he has taken ill so not the time to have a row. Anyhow personal stuff aside I went with him when he went toi collect his latest purchase, a Meta Quest 3 headset. I didn't even try it out, we talked about it and he described to me the technical aspects of it but it was enough to get my interest ignited, so much so that John Lewis 12 months interest free beckoned and it arrived yesterday.

Blew_me_away! This is just stunning, absolutely amazing. I cannot begin to describe this, it is smart and I mean really smart. It has mapped out my living room perfectly so knows where all the obstacles are, has the ceiling and walls perfectly positioned and when you start to play the game that comes with it, it uses your room parameters for positioning. Okay I don't like "computer games" generally but this is another dimension, in the Batman game that comes with it (an 18 gb download!) it "skins" your arms and hands, truly amazing. I also tried some of the (literally) immersive documentaries and they were truly fascinating. I haven't begun to scratch the surface of it's capabilities yet and not yet experienced a movie but Mrs NW who wouldn't know one end of a computer game from another was totally fascinated by it and spent as much time as I did exploring it's capabilities. The headset itself it just the start of it really, you need other bits to go along with it, a better headset halo for starters and then lens inserts if you wear glasses (these are almost a must) a bigger battery is also on the wishlist but not essential.

Now that I have experienced this Virtual Reality environment and given that I understand AI and have a grip of it's potential, the two combined are truly world changing and I can see why some teenagers have real issues with social interactions and "normal" society, this is so far removed from reality as to become a parallel dimension that bears no resemblance to the real world, I can see that switching between the two can prove, for some at least, problematic.

Try Google Maps in VR. You can walk around London as if you are in a giant Lego city and peer over the tops of buildings such as the Houses of Parliament to reveal hidden quadrangles etc you never knew were there. You can also go into flight mode and fly up the Thames etc.
Brilliant for proper flight sims of course along with games like Elite dangerous which first came out on the BBC micro

 

[hotponyshoes]

If anyone wants to try out VR on the cheap I've got quite a few kits that came from the Honda plant when they shut down...

Works well in sketchup, there are various plug-ins you can install as well so you can use the VR controllers as modelling tools to create parts or just pick them up and move them where you want them

 

[MattF]

I know, I know, there are plenty of people including members of this place who live in their own version of reality but...

I'll keep quiet then.

 

[Dozzer]

Worked for a company called EDL when a first left Uni 1998 we were a design consultancy doing structural steel work, assembly equipment for Fords and other industrial design, one of the things the director wanted to get into was VR
He spent tens of thousands on it, with the SGI workstations to run it with openGL graphics cards worth more than my house!!

It never really went anywhere as the was no demand. and you needed so much time for everything to be modelled, it was cost prohibitive.
20 years later, we were using it for digital builds on digital assembly lines, but as @JOEPRO shows in his example, you need every nut, bolt & part to be in the 3D Library. its the world of the digital twin.

As someone who spends a 3rd of his working life in CAD/FEA/Simulation, the idea of spending any more time in 3D land doesn't appeal for some reason
But i do understand the attraction for others.

 

[JOEPRO]

As someone who spends a 3rd of his working life in CAD/FEA/Simulation, the idea of spending any more time in 3D land doesn't appeal for some reason
But i do understand the attraction for others.

It doesn't float my boat either! I don't prepare the models, we employ designers to do that and my employer also has BIM managers to clash detect them.

I worked with autocad for 18 years in Architecture. So I know how designs work and what sections etc need to be prepared in basic terms.

Which is critical.

So I check the models for issues that the clash software does not pick up. And more importantly I ensure that beyond the model, drawing packages are being prepared on time, accurate, free of risk or defects for us and that they are approved in time for the materials to be produced and installed on site in line with construction programme. This includes buildability & value engineering.Construction Design Management is a very fast moving & challenging role but I love it.

One thing I will say is that 3D models are nice but in Revit etc CAD is still the required package for any real world call out detail. That is to say that designers still use CAD and cannot realistically fully model all details of a building such as parapet and jamb details etc. These are all still done in CAD.

Moreover, I note increasingly that whilst new young architects and engineers are dab hands at creating 3D models they don't know what sections they should be preparing and checking. And what typical details and checks will cause issues. Which is where I come in and it is truly mind boggling what sh÷te they can produce at times from large practices paid millions in design fees.

 

[Robotstar5]

Worked for a company called EDL when a first left Uni 1998 we were a design consultancy doing structural steel work, assembly equipment for Fords and other industrial design, one of the things the director wanted to get into was VR
He spent tens of thousands on it, with the SGI workstations to run it with openGL graphics cards worth more than my house!!

One company I worked for started using Solidworks so the engineer asked the IT guy to buy some better graphics cards (which he specified) so they could run it, the IT guy thought knew better than the engineer so instead of buying the recommended cards he bought some much more expensive top of the line cards which Solidworks didn't support (need an egg on face emoji)