Mind blown!

I don’t typically say that about technology unless I really don’t have anything else to explain why I have been so impressed. Two technologies have made the list this year. The first is analog and the second is cutting edge digital.

Have you seen the Pilot FriXion ink pens? http://pilotpen.us/brands/frixion/When Courtney broke one out this week I just about lost it. I said to her, “no freakin way!” I looked them up online and they are called FriXion…as in Yes FreaXion Way. Check them out!

Magic Pens

A post shared by 5115design (@5115design) on May 3, 2017 at 7:55pm PDT

The second thing to impress me this year…so far…was been the video chat app appear.in. I have been using it ccasually with people I want to chat with one one one. It includes screen sharing as well. Very fast, very clear, very easy to use. Take a peak into our private chat room appear.in/5115design (we might lock you out if we happen to be using it…a nice feature). Thank you Åsmund for sharing this one with me! Go Norway on leading the tech world once again!

A few bonus tech to share…I learned for a great online music alternative to Pandora called Jango http://www.jango.com/I must been better because it as a millennial that told me about it. And finally a really great app to keep your family in sync with each other, check out Life360 https://www.life360.com/ – thank you Julie for sharing that one.

If see other cool technology (analog or digital) let me know. Checkout the AWE this month if you are in the bay area http://www.augmentedworldexpo.com/ if you are interested in the latest in AR/VR. I am still on the fence on going this year, but I have gone in the past and it as awesome. Thank you Cesar for introducing me to AWE.

Team name: Owen Derby and Brok Howard from Team VRML (Virtual Review Management Loop)

[The original VRML can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRML – much respect to those champions who paved the way before us]

What Big AEC problem are you trying to solve?

The design process includes change, lots of interactions and fast. Communication with clients can be a challenge when trying to include them in the process. In recent months the evolution of Vurtial Reality has started to get a stronger foothold in the AEC industry. We are not building games, but real human experiences in the AEC world. We do not experience this through the flat 2D drawings or high resolution renderings. The hardware is starting to catchup to the dream of Virtial experience prior to construction with advancements in heads up display gear.

Using an Oculus Rift DK2, Revit, and open source we have linked the hardware, the design and the web. Using three.js and webgl and an OBJ file format we are able to view and move around using a url.

The client can simply open a browser link from an email, connect a future commercially available Heads Up Display (HUD) like Oculus Rift (launching next year) and see the design. “Can you change ‘this here’?” ask the client. Designer updates the design, saves and uploads the file, the browser refreshes and the client sees the change. They continue this process with the client using the same link. The url site can be accessed by anyone with the link and can be experienced by any number of people at the same time.

Can your solution be implemented on Monday?

Yes, this is mostly using existing tools and open source software.

How much of the code was built this weekend?

Because we’re mostly reusing lots of open source code, very little was built this weekend. However, all that was built by us Was built this weekend.

Technical difficulty?

Medium (Easy for the designer, medium challenge for developer). Using a very new web VR compatibility limited us to using the nightly build of Chromium, using a developer kit of a yet to be sold hardware Rift, and file sync system (in this case detopbox) created some challenges, but a simple understandable process.

Impressiveness?
Bonus: What open standards do you support or use?

We used OBJ open 3D file format, threeJS rendering in browser, and webVR open standards.

Bonus: Is your project open source? Yes, here it is on https://github.com/oderby/aec-hack-vrml

Here is us at AEC Hackathon 2.3 in the live demo on YouTube.

The AR heads up display UI designers had to have been inspired by the presentation by Jayse Hansen showing how he designed the HUD for Iron Man and Big Hero.

Helen Papagiannis plugs her book, not much was said.

Ralph Osterhout ODG R-7 and R-8 – 15 degrees of focus – suggest combine AR with VR. Why don’t we let technology control us, why not force technology to work for us? Good question Ralph, now can I get your technology for cheap?

Jon Cabiria said 1 in 3k startups survive after 5 years. Autopsyio – 

Johnny Lee – project lead Project Tango – Motion Tracking, Area Learning, and Depth Preception. I might just have to get a Project Tango device to explore at the next AEC Hackathon. 

AR vs VR Debate was awesome! 

Check out the Inspire Session on YouTube