Software
Pass through modelling in Arkio
Arkio has a new transparent material scenes being able to be round tripped Conclusion called pass-through, which allows you to between them. This has been a massive update for the see the edges of the geometry in passUp to 2,000 game objects can be collaborative VR software. It’s clear to see through camera mode. If you punch a brought into Arkio, moved or modelled that now the groundwork has been done hole through any of these walls, the view on top of, and then sent back to Unity. It on the base system, the development is of the VR world beyond. So you’re in a seems game developers are also interest- teams are fleshing out and refining more real room, seeing a live feed from a cam- ed in using the software for level design. advanced capabilities, across a wide era, but the view through the window is While this may seem not important range of functionality. For me, the most of the Arkio VR world. This is mildly dis- for architecture, expanded usage will important new feature is the inclusion of concerting. It’s also possible to model rec- also drive improvements. To get perfor- a component library, which points tangles around the furniture in your mance, games developers heavily utilise towards taking the product beyond room and literally SketchUp levels of delete it and replace architectural modelthe furniture with ling. Massing is great The addition of meta-style avatars and hands might Arkio components. So but I had always sound like a waste of polygons, but it brings some now you can edit the hoped for more, and real world, and place now it’s here. sense of personification to the collaborative session virtual furniture Arkio also looks set and helps anchor the user in the VR environment within it, while lookto become the gateway ing out into the virtutool to repurpose al world beyond! architectural models The next generation of headsets will level of detail (LoD) techniques, so mod- for the metaverse. The team has obviously have full colour pass-through and, hope- els are displayed with higher fidelity been working very closely with Meta and fully, higher resolution. This blended real- nearer the viewpoint, and lower fidelity I’m sure it’s not lost on the Meta team that ity capability is really at a formative stage further away. this is a great bridge to get the industry but gives an indication of where Arkio is While Arkio currently doesn’t support into the metaverse - should we wish to heading. The development team said they LoD optimisation, it will be coming at cross it. While I am not sure about 99% of always envisaged the product to be both some point. For architects this means the the hype around the metaverse, I can buy VR and AR, so as AR glasses come out, possibility of loading bigger models and into the concept of there being a virtual expect to see Arkio models blending in. having faster VR. space where architects can collate and There are also a range of smaller indi- repurpose their historic 3D projects and Unity vidual features, like the addition of sticky allow customers, students or fans to expeThis release sees a lot of effort put into notes, the incorporation of more Revit rience their built and unbuilt work in VR. connecting Arkio with Unity, with data and the ability to sketch in 3D. ■ www.arkio.is
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