DIRTT launched a virtual reality (VR) app that turns the design phase of a construction project into a portable and multi-user experience that supports real-time design changes with updated visuals, data and pricing. It’s called ICEreality™ and its compatible on iPhones running Apple’s iOS11 — no VR headsets required.
ICEreality™ is built on DIRTT’s ICE® software, a BIM tool that captures material, pricing, engineering, manufacturing and installation information for every aspect of an interior construction project. The ICEreality app takes that functionality and blends it into a social, mobile and immersive virtual reality world that mirrors the ICE design file.
“ICEreality is the first time ICE VR has been a shared experience available to people in the palm of their own hand,” says DIRTT co-founder and chief technology officer, Barrie Loberg. “This app embodies an essential human element that’s oftentimes missing in traditional virtual reality — the shared social experience of exploring a space. ICEreality turns the design phase of a construction project into an incredibly powerful, useful, and now portable, social experience.”
When linked with an ICE software design file, an iPhone running ICEreality becomes a VR viewer into the connected file. Multiple users check out their space in VR at the same time from their own mobile devices, effectively walking through their construction project together before it’s built.
The collaborative experience inspires conversations and allows people to easily see, modify and evaluate their environment. Changes to the design can be made on the spot within ICE itself as the user explores the VR version of the space. Simultaneously, those changes alter the VR world to match visually and with all backend data including pricing.
ICEreality is available on the App Store and is compatible with iPhone 6s or newer, running iOS11. Users without a connection to DIRTT’s ICE software can explore the app’s pre-loaded DIRTT timber frame demo file. For the full experience with ICE software, contact your local DIRTT team and try it in person.