A Hard Road To Travel - Developing tools for low-cost Virtual Reality (VR) systems in the early design phases

Abstract

This paper updates on the developments in the use of low-cost Virtual Reality devices for Architectural design. The authors established a workflow using the gaming software "Unity" to prepare geometry for virtual environments and developed interfaces for a more natural movement inside the virtual world. We will give a summary on the old experiments and explain about our latest develoments in refining the workflow and the interfaces within a new setting. Architects teamed up with civil engineers with a focus on computer science. Due to new hardware developments, we could change the systems from wired to wireless and added several funktions within the overall aim to keep it simple and affordable