In 2014, business analysts and 3D pundits predicted the 3D landscape is awaiting some incisive changes. They were darn right! Already, some of those changes have begun to put in appearance, and the tech circuits are definite that plenty of other changes will make their way through in the months to come.
One important thing to notice is 3D is now inherently associated with BIM and Cloud Computing. So any new trend in the Cloud architecture or in building information modeling (BIM) is sure to affect 3D.
Keeping this in mind, the new trends that are going to be relevant in 3D are
Affordable 3D laser scanning
There’s a definitive reason why it is becoming affordable. 3D laser scanning doesn’t simply scan a physical space or the inside of a room, it also produces field-accurate information, which assist the building information modeling (BIM) procedure. BIM depends on semantics, it requires correct information for more comprehensive 3D modeling, and advanced 3D laser scanning can provide BIM with that.
Some industry sources hold 3D, BIM and Cloud are all deeply linked with each other and 3D laser scanning exposes this nexus by first recording a structure’s appearance and shape and then transforms all those information into cloud enabled data points so they can be imported to create a BIM model.
At this moment, a 3D laser scanner costs around $100K. That’s no doubt expensive, but when the use of such scanners will become commonplace in the real estate industry, their price margin will shrink. Besides, realtors are ready to pay this upfront cost if they are sure that the ROI will be satisfactory. Apart from being affordable, 3D laser scanning may also instigates realtors to explore domains, which they wouldn’t have explored otherwise. So the affordability of laser 3D scanners is not unidimensional but actually multi-dimensional.
Cloud-based data management
These days, data management tools are mostly Cloud based. Managing data through cloud yields a number of benefits. Storing all data on the hard-drive results in scarcity of usable space on the computer. If data moves to the Cloud and if there’s an integrated 3D model to encompass the designers and architects start to interact with 3D models and their understanding of the design becomes more lucid.
Cloud platforms are regarded useful for collaboration because they allow the data to be utilized in various ways. We’ve already mentioned the usability of Cloud generated 3D models for architects and designers. The models are generated based on raw data. Apart from that, Cloud platforms also offer tools for manage and store project data. More so, a harmony could be found in the ways the tools function; for example, storing and sharing of data can be done by a unique tool.
That’s not all. The Cloud based tools lets the data to be integrated with a web-page that is HTTPS enabled. Important features could be accessed and operations could be performed on the site itself and the outputs could be shared with other team members via the web. Normally cloud-driven platforms for data management consist of file-sharing system, hardware controller and web operating system.
Collaboration and consulting
One essential requirement of 3D modeling is eliminating the expensive stages of collaboration. Such stages are, most of the time, long-distance and time-consuming. With time, it has been found that a single mode of collaboration is more effective in overcoming the bottlenecks. If a unique mode of collaboration is adopted for 3D modeling, then that’d amount to elimination of duplication, quick response to changes and upgrades, etc. The adoption, however, may not be as easy as it sounds because not all members of the team are equally capable to adopt something new.
A third party consultant can offer them some leverage. He can educate the whole team so they could overcome the garbage-in-garbage-out scenario and all the 3D models that they are working in, from electronic wiring to facility maintenance, bring value to the owner of the building.
Simply put, if teams collaborate with each other and consult with those, who know how to overcome the BIM challenges, then 3D modeling would become more systematic, less time consuming and less expensive. For the construction and interior decoration industries, it will be immensely helpful.
There are many other trends, which are equally radical as the ones, discussed in this article. But the ones we’ve selected are relatively easier to implement and for that.