AU 2019 Recap: More VR. More BIM. No Cables.
We’re back from Autodesk University in Las Vegas and re-energized from all the great conversations with customers and partners. If there was one thing that was clear it’s that standalone VR devices like the Oculus Quest are here to stay and already making a dent in AEC. This year we decided to only bring Oculus Quests to AU and we don’t regret it one bit.
Below is a recap of our favorite Autodesk University to date, from our packed class to our multi-user Oculus Quest “arena scale” demo.
AU Survey Results
This year we surveyed 189 AU attendees to learn more about VR penetration in AEC. While more and more people have experienced VR in some form, it’s still surprising that 38% of attendees had never tried VR before. This is why reducing the barriers to adopting VR in every day design and construction workflows is so important. Devices like the Oculus Quest coupled with workflows like BIM 360 with InsiteVR make it easy for anyone to start reviewing projects in VR.
Day 1 — The VR Zone
On day 1 we set up a multi-user VR experience to showcase the power of InsiteVR + BIM 360 + Oculus Quest. Attendees were able to strap on a Quest and explore a BIM 360 project with 4 other people. With no cables, we gave people the ability to freely explore a 20' x 30' space together in VR.
Everyone in VR was co-located so people could comfortably share the environment. This means their virtual avatars were all placed exactly where their real world bodies were. This way you could review a virtual patient room and evaluate the design as the doctors and nurses who will ultimately work in the room.
One of our favorite parts was seeing people duck to avoid the virtual pipe in the middle of the room. Everyone knew it wasn’t actually there, but in VR issues like this become so obvious your body can’t help but respond.
Video recap:
Day 1 — Forge DevCon Class
We were thrilled to see the turnout for our class with Michael Beale from Autodesk on building our BIM 360 VR integration.
Our class had over 200 attendees and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Thank you to everyone who came!
We were also glad to share case studies from Perkins+Will and Skanska showcasing the measurable ROI that InsiteVR can have from design through construction. Our guest speaker, Javier Cifuentes of Skanska, shared how with InsiteVR his team was able to prevent an issue that would’ve delayed the project by nearly 2 months.
If you missed the class the recording and materials will be posted here: https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/BIM-360-VR-Collaboration-AECConstruction-InsiteVR-Unity-and-Forge-2019
Day 2 — VR Meetup
On Tuesday, we were invited to speak at the VR meetup hosted by Viveka Devadas, Support Specialist AEC/VR at Autodesk. Our presentation included a demo of our BIM 360 integration as well as case studies showing the ROI. We were glad to see so many people new to VR and ready to enhance their workflows with InsiteVR!
Day 3 — The Void
On the third day of AU we invited some InsiteVR VIP’s to the Void. Everyone took a break from classes to team up and fight storm troopers in VR. Thanks to all who attended!
Thank you to all others who included InsiteVR in class material, stopped by our booth, or just said hi.
Other InsiteVR mentions at AU 2019:
Thomas Poppelgaard | Removing the Boundaries of Virtual Reality Experiences by Streaming Your Intelligent Models from the Cloud: https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Removing-Boundaries-Virtual-Reality-Experiences-Streaming-Your-Intelligent-Models-Cloud-2019
Rina Sahay | Unity’ed We Stand with Revit and BIM 360: https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Unityed-We-Stand-Revit-and-BIM-360-2019
Interested in using InsiteVR with BIM 360 and Oculus Quest? Contact our sales team at sales@insitevr.com and they’ll get you started.
Learn more about InsiteVR at https://www.insitevr.com
