Updates to Gaming Technology for BIM

March 4, 2016 | Comments

When it comes to building information modeling (BIM), gaming technology has a surprising amount of potential.

The immediate reaction might be that this just means prettier graphics for BIM models in rendering situations, but that isn’t the case. According to Arman Gukasyan, CEO of Revizto, gaming technology is all about making an experience using interactivity.

This has long been Revizto’s goal: to create an interactive environment that keeps things simple. Its software offerings—Revizto Viewer, Revizto Editor and Revizto Issue Tracker—all subscribe to this model and with version 4.0 coming out soon, users can expect to see a few improvements.

Revizto generates BIM and CAD projects into navigable, game-like environments. (Image courtesy of Revizto.)

 

Updates for Revizto 4.0

Revizto is a cloud-based collaboration software for Windows, Mac and iOS. It uses a proprietary rendering engine to create 3D walkable environments for project managers and team members alike. It is compatible with popular BIM software, including Revit, Navisworks, Civil 3D, SketchUp and ArchiCAD.

Previous iterations of the software treated Editor and Viewer as separate entities, but that will no longer be the case with Revizto 4.0.

What can users expect to see?

Revizto Editor has given up many of its functionalities to Viewer. In the new version, it will serve as a fine-tuning tool only and will be accessible only from within Viewer.

Revizto Viewer has become the center for main processes. It lets users manage projects, synchronize them to the cloud and share them with teams.

A new feature for Revizto is the ability to markup PDF files. (Image courtesy of Revizto.)

PDF compatibility is a brand-new feature for Revizto software. Users will be able to upload PDFs, do markups using Issue Tracker and assign particular documents to project members. This feature will also use version control to keep track of change histories.

According to Gukasyan, changes and markups are sent back to the modeling software automatically to keep everything on the same page.

 

Designed for AEC Workflows

The company certainly did its homework to prepare for its upcoming release of Revizto 4.0.

“We’ve been talking to our major clients and learning their workflows because the BIM workflow is different for everyone,” said Gukasyan. “We’ve been educating our solution and we’ve been learning from [clients] to see what is their real workflow and what we should do in order to provide a better solution.”

The software is designed to pull BIM and CAD data out of model files and turn them into a gaming-style navigable environment where, for example, an inspector could “walk” the hallways in first person and notice a pipe that needs to be relocated.

Revizto imports BIM data into a 3D gaming-style environment so that users can measure, markup and edit projects. (Image courtesy of Revizto.)

Because it’s cloud-based, the software automatically updates itself and can even be scheduled to do so on its own. Gukasyan explained that the software has the ability to boot up your computer, open itself, open relevant projects and sync them to the cloud even when you’re not in the room.

Although this feature might seem alarming (it always is when your computer boots itself up), it has the potential to serve as a useful tool for busy architects and engineers who always need the latest version. It would also be quite handy for those on international teams with members in various time zones.

 

Finer Details of Revizto 4.0

According to the company, Revizto 4.0 will be released as a full version near the end of March 2016. It uses a subscription pricing model with monthly and annual options.

Prices have gone up slightly for the new version. Annually, it will cost:

  • $5,000 for 20 collaborators
  • $8,000 for 50 collaborators
  • $15,000 for 100 collaborators

All tiers are available to any size and type of firm. While they might seem like big numbers, Gukasyan noted that Revizto could save firms up to 30-40 percent of a project’s billable time.

For more information, check out the Revizto website.

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