ᐅ Experience House Designs Virtually
Created on: 17 Mar 2019 12:49
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Andreas Koch
Hello everyone,
We are a young start-up team in the construction sector. Our goal is to make the experience of the dream of owning a home possible even before the first stone is laid. To do this, we use virtual reality technology – those somewhat bulky headsets ;-) – and develop fully immersive VR models from 3D designs. This means you can freely move through the rooms, pick up and move furniture, switch lights on and off, and get a good sense of the spatial dimensions.
The good news: we are not trying to sell anything at this stage; instead, we are looking for homebuilders for whom we can create a free demo version. Why are we doing this? Before fully launching our start-up, we want feedback from our target audience, and you can help us with that! Our office is based in Mannheim, so it would be great if you are located in the southwest of Germany, but feel free to contact us even if you live further away.
To give you a first impression, we have prepared a short video for you. It shows what a sample demo model looks like. Feel free to click here.
Please feel free to write to us – then we can discuss further details about the process.
heimvr.de
We also look forward to your feedback directly here in the forum thread. So far, our test users have been very enthusiastic, but we are keen to hear what you, as homebuilders, think about it.
Best regards
Andreas & Jan
We are a young start-up team in the construction sector. Our goal is to make the experience of the dream of owning a home possible even before the first stone is laid. To do this, we use virtual reality technology – those somewhat bulky headsets ;-) – and develop fully immersive VR models from 3D designs. This means you can freely move through the rooms, pick up and move furniture, switch lights on and off, and get a good sense of the spatial dimensions.
The good news: we are not trying to sell anything at this stage; instead, we are looking for homebuilders for whom we can create a free demo version. Why are we doing this? Before fully launching our start-up, we want feedback from our target audience, and you can help us with that! Our office is based in Mannheim, so it would be great if you are located in the southwest of Germany, but feel free to contact us even if you live further away.
To give you a first impression, we have prepared a short video for you. It shows what a sample demo model looks like. Feel free to click here.
Please feel free to write to us – then we can discuss further details about the process.
heimvr.de
We also look forward to your feedback directly here in the forum thread. So far, our test users have been very enthusiastic, but we are keen to hear what you, as homebuilders, think about it.
Best regards
Andreas & Jan
Some architects already offer this as part of their services, completely free of charge. However, I have to say that I wasn't convinced by it. The proportions—what was mentioned earlier and what many people have trouble imagining—are still severely distorted when using the headset.
For example, we wanted to see how the TV, which had unintentionally been planned very far away, would look visually. The 3D view didn't help at all because the distances and dimensions were portrayed completely unrealistically. Similarly, hallways that were actually quite spacious felt like you were almost brushing against the walls on both sides.
There are certainly various systems, and some might simply find it "nice" to use. From my personal perspective, though, I doubt many people would invest a lot of money for just a small demonstration. Comparing it to the overall construction costs seems a bit off 😉
For example, we wanted to see how the TV, which had unintentionally been planned very far away, would look visually. The 3D view didn't help at all because the distances and dimensions were portrayed completely unrealistically. Similarly, hallways that were actually quite spacious felt like you were almost brushing against the walls on both sides.
There are certainly various systems, and some might simply find it "nice" to use. From my personal perspective, though, I doubt many people would invest a lot of money for just a small demonstration. Comparing it to the overall construction costs seems a bit off 😉
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Andreas Koch17 Mar 2019 16:35ypg schrieb:
Isn’t this more of an offer that architects could provide? So rather the target group would be “architects” instead of homebuilders for you later on?Yes, definitely for later :-) But for now, we want to get feedback from the “end user” first. Of course, we are also in discussions with interested architects at the same time.
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Andreas Koch17 Mar 2019 16:41Fuchur schrieb:
Some architects already include this in their services, completely free of charge. However, I have to say it didn’t convince me. The scale and proportions—what was mentioned earlier and what many people have trouble imagining—are still completely distorted, even with the glasses on.
For example, we wanted to see how the (unintentionally) very far-away planned TV would look visually. The 3D view didn’t help at all because the distances and dimensions were depicted totally unrealistically. Likewise, hallways that should have felt spacious seemed almost as if you were brushing the walls on both sides.
There are certainly different systems, and some people might just find it "nice" in a simple way. But from my own point of view, I doubt anyone would spend that much money just for a little show. The comparison to construction costs is a bit off 😉For us, it is naturally the "easiest" if architects include this in their full range of services, but right now we are less focused on the perfect business plan and more on delivering a value-adding product.
Thank you very much for your feedback! That is interesting, so far we’ve only shown the model to people who are currently not building a house, but their feedback was quite different: that you actually get a very good sense of space, as if you are really standing there. Maybe our YouTube video offers a bit more insight on this.
We see the VR model much less as a show, for which the money would really be a waste. Rather, it is about supporting the design process, to compare ideas quickly and early with the actual planning status, and to experience things like natural light or room size with furniture placement.
If this is still relevant for you: we would be happy to create a VR model of your house—then definitely with realistic sizes and distances, including the TV :-)