Creating VR experience for SketchUp models
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In this post I will do my best to give you a quick preview of SimLab VR for SketchUp, and answer the questions:
What is VR?
What hardware do I need to run?
How can I create a VR experience from SketchUp?
Is it really good for me?
How much will it cost me?
Lets startWhat is VR?
What hardware do I need to run?VR (Virtual reality) is used in many different ways by different groups, it means basically to be able to experience being inside the 3D model or place in a virtual world and to view it as if it was real.
Samples of those experiences include:- Virtual reality on the Desktop using HTC Vive, or Oculus rift where you can experience and interact with the 3D model
- Virtual reality on the mobile
- 360 images, in this case you get a ghost view of the model you can view it in 3D but you cannot interact with it.
Each type is useful for specific cases, the first one is the best quality experience, the other two are useful for moving the experience for the masses, for users who do not have a VR specific device.
SimLab Composer 8 supports today supports two modes:
- HTC vive full user experience
- Desktop based view mode for users with no HTC vive set
Next week we should have support for Oculus Rift
SimLab Composer 8.1 should add support for 360 images and VR mobile viewer, which allows rendering something like the following image
How can I create a VR experience from SketchUp?
SimLab Composer makes it very easy to create VR experiences for your SketchUp model.
Please check the following tutorial to understand the process.Is VR really good for me?
The short answer is YES, in the short term it will be a good competitive advantage.
In the long run it will be a must for all 3D model users.As an Architect it will allow you to sell more designs, and to get complete understanding on the space you are designing.
As interior designer it will get you more work.
Following are sample experiences that shows the value of VR
How much will it cost me?
If you are ready for the top interactive experience, we advise you for SimLab Composer VR edition, the perpetual license costs you $399.
If all what you need it so export your sketchup model, to walk inside it, and experiment with material and lighting, you can get SimLab Composer Lite for free, it also includes free real time rendering.
Ready to start your VR experience, SimLab Composer can be downloaded from the following link
Note: VR experience is currently only support on Windows, sorry our Mac users, we are working on it.
Ashraf Sultan
SimLab Soft -
The latest release of SimLab Composer 8.0.7 adds supports for Oculus Rift.
As of this release, VR experiences created using SimLab Composer can be Viewed using HTC vive, Oculus Rift, or the Desktop Viewer
Latest version can be downloaded from the following link
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This all looks very good but where can I see an example of the VR Desktop (not a video)?
I would like to see if this would really work for us.
BTW: On the animation, can you animate subcomponents/subgroups?
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Samples can be found as part of SimLab Composer.
Install SimLab Composer from the following link
After installing SimLab Composer, start SimLab VR Showroom, it includes different samples that you can view using HTC Vive, Oculus Rift , or using the Desktop viewer.
The following tutorial shows how to add and view models to the Showroom
@ntxdave said:
BTW: On the animation, can you animate subcomponents/subgroups?
Yes you can do that.
Following example shows something done for a simple system
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Thanks for your quick response.....it looks like this product has come a long way.
I downloaded a trial version about 18 months ago. Would I be allowed to "try" it again?
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Yes, this is a new version so you should get a new 21 days of free trial.
If you faced any issue with trial, email license@simlab-soft.com they will help you with that.
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@ashraf said:
Yes, this is a new version so you should get a new 21 days of free trial.
If you faced any issue with trial, email license@simlab-soft.com they will help you with that.
Thanks @ashraf, I was able to download it and have it running. However, I am having huge performance problems. Any action I try to perform is resulting in 30-60 second delays. I even tried rebooting the machine after installing the software but still get the same lag. Is there a setting somewhere that I need to check?
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this is strange, the first time i hear about that.We have a good user base with different machines.
Are you getting the delay in Simlab composer action or when running a VR experience?
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@ashraf said:
Are you getting the delay in Simlab composer action or when running a VR experience?
When I am running SimLab Composer. I think I am going to uninstall and reinstall. Maybe I can do that later today.
OK, I completely uninstalled and reinstalled 2 times and still the same problem. I have trouble getting almost anything done because of the huge lag after clicking on anything.
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This is really strange.
Are you getting this even before opening a model? with Simple ground?
Do you have an anti virus slowing the machine?Ashraf
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@ashraf said:
This is really strange.
Are you getting this even before opening a model? with Simple ground?
Do you have an anti virus slowing the machine?Ashraf
Yes, I am getting this even before opening a model.
I started up Composer and everything seems fine. When I click on the materials panel, I can expand/close material categories and everything seems fine. So then I created a sphere an wanted to apply a material to the sphere. That seemed to go pretty good but then I thought I would try a different material. That is when things started going down hill. If I tried to select a different material category, things began to slow down. Once the new category opened I noticed that when I moved my mouse over different materials, there was a lag that began to show up as I moved the mouse from one material to the next. It would take a couple of seconds for the new material name popup to show with the correct name for the next material. It also then began to be more difficult to change material categories. The delay time increased.
I also went to the toolbar along the top of the viewport. At first when I clicked on a selection, the dropdown panel would show up quickly but after then things began to slow down there too. It then takes several seconds (somewhere around 10-20 seconds) for the panel to show up. If I now the shortcut key to click for what I want to do, that seems to work fine.
It appears to me that it all has something to do with the interface. When I can use a shortcut key, that seems to work fine. It is when I need to select a new panel or click on something in a panel that I get the delays. Cannot say for sure but it seems that longer I work or the more I do, the slower it goes. I have also noticed that it seems to affect other applications that I might be running at the same time. As an example, I was working in Composer and wanted to go check an email. When I switched over to email, the screen had a slow reaction and the email screen was messed up for about 6 or 7 seconds.
Hope all of this helps.........
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@ashraf said:
This is really strange.
I signed up for the SimLab Composer forum and found out this is not really that strange after all. Look at this link on your forum and you will see that others have experienced something very similar but I could not see how they really solved it.
This is really holding me back and the clock is ticking on my trial.
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Are you running windows 10?
When you right click on the composer windows do you run with graphics card so you can select a graphics card to run with?
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@ashraf said:
Are you running windows 10?
Yes
@ashraf said:
When you right click on the composer windows do you run with graphics card so you can select a graphics card to run with?
When you say "right click on composer windows" I am not 100% sure what you are asking. What do you mean by "composer window"? Do you mean after I have started Composer?
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For anyone else who may be experiencing problems on Windows 10, please see visit this thread on the SimLab Forum and I think you will see that the problem has probably been identified and is in the process of being addressed. Hope the resolution comes quickly.
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