Description
Key Learnings
- Learn how to improve project design and construction sequencing with virtual reality
- Learn how to implement virtual reality and know what project types it’s best suited for
- Discover virtual reality as a collaboration tool for planning, design, and construction
- Learn about virtual reality and construction safety
Speaker
- DSDusan SelezanDusan Selezan holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Construction Engineering from San Diego State University. For the past four years he has been with Balfour Beatty Construction, working as a Senior Virtual Design and Construction Specialist. With more than five years of BIM experience he has diverse type of projects on his resume; Healthcare, Correctional Facilities, Schools and Residential Towers. Dusan is lecturer at New School of Architecture & Design, teaching Virtual Design & Construction course. He serves on multiple committees for Associated General Contractors in San Diego, he is a board member for Construction Management Association of America and member of Lean Construction Institute.
DUSAN SELEZAN: Making sure. OK, so my name is Dusan Selezan. I'm with Balfour Beatty Construction. I've been with the firm for past five years. Based in San Diego and then my position is a senior virtual design and construction specialist. I'm also a part time faculty, teaching at NewSchool of Architecture and Design University in San Diego as well.
A little bit about Balfour Beatty as a company. We're a global firm with over 30,000 employees, about 2,400 in US. We're in 16 markets currently in the US, and with a yearly revenue of around $4 billion. Agenda for today, I'm sure you are all in the right class. And if you're not, sorry. You're going to get stuck with it.
It is, what is the VR? What is the virtual reality? What is the workflow for virtual reality? VR in planning, design, construction. And then we're going to talk a little bit about future and where is this all going to. Let's start with the question, what is virtual reality?
I'm sure after all the presentations, keynotes, and everything, you're all well suited and you know what VR is. But just as a reminder, it is a 3D model-based representation of environments and elements that can be explored, manipulated, and also seen in the virtual design environment.
So the idea about VR came a long time ago. 50 years ago, we've been seeing some of that premature virtual reality try outs. But back then, it wasn't called VR.
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I apologize about the noise. I don't know why it's making it. So how is it really different from just seeing 3D models, computer-based models, the same thing on your monitor or computer screen? Well, the main point is that immersive environment. Once you put the goggles on, once you put the Oculus Rift or Vive or any other hardware that you have available, you're really getting immersed in that 3D space environment. And the main point for that is the scale. When you're looking at the screen, you're seeing a completely different scale than where if you were to put the goggles on, and where you're seeing that's share in its actual size and scale and position, rather than seeing it on a computer and trying to imagine what is the depth, what is the height, and trying to scale down in your view.
So it's really opening your sense of feeling for the environment, of the depth, of the height, and then also the sense of the actual interacting with other elements. So from this video here, you can see a person is looking through the acoustical panel, but then because of that immersive environment, that I talked earlier about, he's actually trying to find that spot on the ground.
Another example of immersive environment is the safety. Sometimes people forget and they try. I'm not really sure if this was on purpose recorded or was it true, but I downloaded it from YouTube. But I think you're getting the point, what virtual reality and how it differs from just viewing 3D models computer-based on your computer screen.
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So if it's too dangerous, too expensive, or complicated to do it in reality, do it first in virtual reality. So when I read these three words, "dangerous, expensive, and complicated," it reminded me of construction right away, right? Every project that we almost do, it's dangerous, it's expensive, and it gets really complicated. So why wouldn't we do it in VR, then? To start with and to see how it's going to work and how the workflow and everything it's going to go.
Why is virtual reality having an impact on the AEC industry now, when I mentioned that, even 50 years ago, we've been seeing some of the premature VR sets and software back then? Well, one of the main reasons is price. So you can see one of the earlier hardware that was in 2012 implemented by nVisor. And any guesses how much did it cost? What do you think? How much did it cost back then?
OK, I'm not going to bore you. It was $25,000. Which, if you think about it, for something really new and revolutionary, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that much. But then, if you take a look at the price today, Oculus Rift costs how much? $400. Or you can get a Google Cardboard for $15, or maybe free, if the companies are nice enough to give you the AU exhibit.
So 62 times reduction in less than five years is something why are we really talking a lot about virtual reality in construction. You all heard about Facebook buying Oculus a few years ago for $2 billion. Then we have Microsoft, another huge company that's created HoloLens. And then we have Google with their software Daydream.
So if we have these massive companies that are there to produce money and that they're staying in business, sustainable, then we know that if they're investing in virtual reality, there is something bigger coming up that maybe we don't see at this moment. That's another reason why we've got to invest in construction in terms of virtual reality.
So development of the specific construction software for VR is another reason why it's having an impact today and didn't have two, three, or five years ago. Before, as you know, construction is the last industry to adopt technology and all the processes and resources. It's sad, but that's the reality. Virtual reality wasn't created with the idea for construction to use it. It was more for a gaming engine, and also for some flight simulation and other industries.
But then we adopt from these other. We always look after the manufacturing and higher end industries. And then companies are starting to adapt and to adjust. So that's why we're seeing these companies developing specific software for VR in construction right now. And this is an example of some of them.
So how the workflow goes. A few years ago, we had Revit. We have a sketch, depending on where you're modeling everything. Then we push it to 3D Max. We try to make models look prettier, add some materials in it. Then we got to transfer it to Unity. It's a gaming engine workaround, and then push it to Oculus Rift or Vive.
So the process was taking a couple of days to do it. Which is still not bad, if you think what you get at the end. But nowadays, with the specific construction software, this process is literally taking minutes if not seconds. Anyone can do it. You don't need to be computer programmer in order to create a virtual reality environment from the Revit models that you're going to get from architects or from design team, anyway.
By the way, maybe I forgot to mention that my company is a general contractor company. And then we also do the construction management. We're not designer. We're not architects. So we manage construction. And we do a lot of design build projects. So I'm going to be talking later about the design aspect, and that's how we're getting along with it, because we're managing a design build project.
So virtual reality in planning. How many of you are tasked to put site logistics plans, to plan the workflow around the site, around the city. You've got to find the best routes for the truck, for vehicle, for available parking. If you're doing something in the middle of downtown, it's going to be really complicated.
So you're going to probably go over there, you're going to see every corner, try to measure distance to see how much space you have on a crosswalk so that your truck can actually turn and get on a site. There is a lot of challenges with that, that you've got to go actually in person and do that. And how are we putting this on the visual?
Well, we take usually the site plan, right? Our superintendent, project engineer, whoever is tasked with that, they make nice markups, right? In a blue BIM. Nowadays, everyone knows how to use that. So that's good. And then we communicate that back to owner, to construction trades, to everyone. Probably 50 people on the project.
Well, not everyone can see, and not everyone is familiar with the site. Some of the people are going to see this, and they're going to be on the site in a month. But they've got a plan the parking for their workers. They've got to plan everything else beside that.
So then we started using Google Earth for site logistics. Now we are getting morning into, hey, it's visual, it's better. We know where the actual project is. We know what is surrounding. Now we can plan where to place the crane. We know it's going to have any safety issue with pedestrians, with access to the site, or anything else.
And then we took a step further. And then we started developing site logistics plans in actual InfraWorks. Which, for some reason, is not playing right now. Oh, come on.
[BEEPING]
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]?
DUSAN SELEZAN: I don't see my mouse. That's the issue.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].
DUSAN SELEZAN: Oh, there it is. OK. I apologize about that.
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Where is the IT guy? Where is the IT when you need them? Well, it's supposed to be a fly through the model and then I got a lot of other videos I need to-- I just unplugged it to see if it's going to play on my computer. And it is playing on my monitor, so let my try to plug it in back. It'll play there, but-- let's what. It wants that I zoom in. It doesn't zoom in.
OK, unfortunately, I'll have to play it that way. Sorry about that. OK, I'll stand right next to you guys. So then we started developing site logistic plans in infra works. Now we're able to tell actual story to plan where the construction site is going to be. We're able to visually explain everything that we're planning to do in regards to this project.
We can plan the truck crowd. We can have a nice representation for the community, if we need to do any meetings, if it's a public project. If it's a Navy project, we can show it to non-construction people, and they are able to understand. But we can also send the video to our subcontractors. So now they know how they can plan their work around.
So we started really exploring using virtual reality for site logistics. When we go to interviews, usually the owner requires us to put site logistics plans together. So now in the interviews, we bring a VR set with us. We prepare models, and we can export from InfraWorks to Fuzor and then other software as well.
Are you going to play? Gotta play it manually every time. OK, talking about investors, let's say we have a Chinese investor. We got him quite a bit lately, especially around the LA area. They are coming to the United States. They want to invest money in the country, but not necessarily they need to come in to see everything.
Well, Google Earth now has a VR capability. You can basically put your VR set. You can use the app, and you can be in any city. Or if you always had a dream about going to Paris, or Rome, or Venice, now it doesn't really cost money. You can experience the city with the VR set. But talking about the planning infrastructure works, water resource projects, we can use the VR set. You can see what terrain is studied, some other analysis.
If you're working on a solar project, if you're placing solar panels in the middle of the desert, you don't want to necessarily walk in there in order to see it. Now with the VR capability of Google Earth, you can get quite a bit of experience just by doing that. So using VR for the job interviews is another big one. Before you start working on the project, you need to win it first, right?
So how are we using it for the interviews? This is a project that we won recently in San Diego. It is a county of San Diego Health and Human Services building. It was a collaborative design built project. So in the interview and in the preconstruction phase, they wanted the entire design build team to be together.
HMC architects took initiative to model everything. The focus was really big on the design. I think more than 60% of the scoring criteria was how are you going to approach design? What are you offering and what are we paying for? So we knew that that was a big component in the interview. And what is the best solution how to present that, how to communicate to the owner, hey, this is what we are planning for this, printing 2D images or just showing them screenshots from 3D models would not really explain the image. It will not tell the story.
So HMC architects, our great partner, took on the initiative. They modeled everything in a sketch up, actually. And then they pushed it to some other VR solutions, such as Lumion and Fuzor. And we went to interview with the actual Google Cardboard. They created a different scene so that you can actually-- because the Google Cardboard, it's pretty static, right? You're sitting in the middle of the room, and then you can just walk-- I mean, not walk but turn around.
So they created different views for each different place inside of the building and then outside. You can see this is inside of the parking structure. And then they also did some nice animations, because it is zero net energy. And the owner was really big on what is going to be appearance. How are you going to blend in the actual environment, the surrounding, to the project? So for that reason, they did some nice animations. Zero net energy also means a lot of solar panels on the roof. So we were able, with the VR, to show them the position of the building, why is it strategically placed in that corner, why it has a specific shape and then angle of the roof.
Well, it is because of the solar panels. We want to be able to capture the most sunlight that we possibly can, so that we are producing enough so that we can consume also enough. This is another animation of the same project. It is a public funded project, so the appearance and the look is also very important to the clients. It's not running animation.
So the owner wanted to make sure that the taxpayers are feeling that actually they are getting back something in return. Designing like a social space, somewhere where the neighbors can meet, where they can sit, where they can rest, talk, and have kind of community services was really important. So showing them through animation, through the virtual reality was real important and I think one of the winning reasons for that project.
Then I'm going to talk about virtual reality in design. In Southern California, we do a lot of jail facilities. So as you can see here, let me just get rid of notes. You don't need to see those, right? Come on. So doing jails, high security projects, it's really important to capture everything that's going around. Having sheriffs input early in a design, it's really necessary for them to accept that design. You don't build jails everyday so that you know exactly what you need to have in that design.
It was a new experience for the firm, for the project team, for our designer, for contractors, and for our architects. Yes, we did jails before, but then every owner wants something specific. How are you going to engage those clients is a really important approach. So having 3D representation, having them to feel and to place themselves inside of that space was really important for them in order to engage and to collaborate with us during design phase, so that we can get design approvals early on, that we can get their feedback, that we know what we need to design and how we need to approach this project, rather than just designing it and then them not approving it a couple months later.
So time is always important for us. For the jail facilities, one of the very important aspects is a control room. This is the room where sheriff and everyone on staff needs to watch all the inmates 24 hours. So it is a 24 hour supervision type of a facility, where from that window they need to be able to see more than 30 inmates in this room. So the spatial arrangements of the [INAUDIBLE] on the window, of the equipment that they have inside of that room, even their computer monitor is really critical, so that they can see everyone all the time.
It is not enough that the camera is going to capture, if they cannot see that live if they start a fight, if they are trying to do something. So doing reviews in virtual reality with the sheriff, with the actual end users that are going to be operating this facility is really big during the early design, so that we get all those decisions made early. Arrangements of the bunk beds, where each table goes, making sure that we don't have any hidden spots is really important. I'm going to move to the next one.
This is another jail that we're currently building in Bakersfield, California. It is more of a traditional type of facility. Same thing, individual cells. The previous project you could see had kind of a common space where they would all sleep, but this one is a really high security jail. Again, really important point is this small window on top. This is where, in case of any emergency, if there is a fight, the Sheriff needs to climb to that attic space. This is only a three feet high door.
By the way, they need to get there and to shoot the smoke or to shoot the-- what is it called? The gas inside, so that they can then wait for support and get in. So making sure that they have enough space, that we do not install mechanical ducts right above them, that they can hit their heads and stuff like that, is something that we would not think about because we're not inside of that facility. We're not operating. But getting their input is really valuable.
It is saving us time and money, and saving everyone from going back to multiple rotations, from making drawings, changes from change orders. So virtual reality. Think about saving us time. It's pushing owners to make early decisions. Another part of this facility was offsite prefabrication. These are the cells. As you can see around the cell, it's the same [INAUDIBLE] wall, but then at the back of the cell, there is a protective metal panel that is resistant to any of the damage.
So those panels need to be prefabricated. And then all the openings for the plumbing, for mechanical, for electrical had to be early designed and coordinated before they can prefabricate all of the systems as well. So making sure that we see every type of a cell individually, we were creating virtual mockups rather than building on sites actual mockups that costs around $50,000 per cell. We had 10 different cell types, so you can do the math and see what was the savings. We had to build only one physical cell rather than building 10 of them.
So there is a savings right there. The owner was happy, satisfied. We coordinated all of the MEP systems. They could see-- so talking about ADA compliance, we did ADA analysis. We made sure that bunk beds were in a right location, toilets fixture, that chair, that everything is visible from the control room. We would sign off and then we would move to prefabrication.
So virtual reality helped us to really streamline that process and save some money without having to build the physical mockups. Another point is this corridor. This is at the mezzanine level in the cells parts. And when the sheriff walked through this mezzanine level, he said, oh, no, this is not wide enough. It was only three feet, and he said that's not enough for two inmates to pass each other. If they're going to bump into each other, it's going to cause a fight. Let's make that five feet right away.
So change like that during early design doesn't cost much. Going back and having to do a change order when inmates are already in can cost an owner a lot of money. So that's kind of a benefit of using it for the design, virtual reality. This is another example of a similar facility, [INAUDIBLE] Fox, where before the virtual reality meeting we had everything exposed.
So as you can see right there, there is a fire protection pipe. There is a plumbing pipe also. Lights, mechanical duct. Everything was exposed. So the sheriff for this facility was a woman, female. So when she flew through, she said, oh, no, that's not good. The inmates can actually jump on a bunk bed. They can play around with the sprinkler head, and that entire room will be flooded in five minutes.
We decided to add a security grade ceiling. And again, change like that during the design doesn't really cost much. Doing it afterwards when everyone is already demobilized, having to put all the trades back can cost 10 times more. Having end user group input throughout the entire facility is really important for the design project. Design builds not done with its architects need to worry about this, but the entire team as well.
So we wanted all of the different groups that we have on the facilities to really experience the work and the space that they're going to be working at 9, 10 hours a day. So this is a medical portion of the jail facility. So we had a doctors and nurses group experience their future facility in VR, and then through some irritations and changes, we were able to successfully build this without further change orders.
Any type of high security facility requires a lot of security cameras, as you know. I think in Las Vegas, after the tragic accident, they're going to put probably thousands of cameras monitoring all the cities. So how are we placing? How are we designing these cameras? Traditionally, the camera consultant or electrician will place cameras, thinking that that's the best location, best height, proximity. When you have a jail, you've got to think about security and safety. That camera cannot be reachable.
So it's got to be high enough that you cannot reach it. But once you put it really high enough, are you going to get the angle that you really need? You don't know until you install it. The cameras go last, so you already put all the finishes. You painted everything. You've finished the drywall. And then if it's in the wrong location, now you've got to rip off everything and not only pay for electrician to put the wires down, but you've got to bring back the painter. You've got to bring back the drywall guy and everyone else.
So certain software, like Fuzor, actually has camera views built in the software. So you can choose the type that you're going to be installing. They have Bosch. They have Samsung. They have most of the cameras that are available out there. So you can select a specific type of camera that you know from your submittal that you're going to be installing for that facility. You have exactly the view range, so you know the angle of that specific camera, and then you also know the zoom function.
So for this facility, we had around 200 cameras, and we went for every view. We determined exactly the height, the location. And at the end, we didn't really have to move any of them, because everything was already coordinated during predesign. Before that was a big issue with security cameras. It's a small thing, but it can cost a lot of money.
This is another project that I showed you earlier, the San Diego County Health and Human Services building. Usually, if you're a designer-- any architects in the room? How long does it take you guys to go through all of the finishes in terms of carpet, wall paint, lights, and have owner agree on it? Is it a week?
So for this project, we did a four hours meeting, and they had only one suggestion, something that we would change for a $30 million project. I can't remember. It was three stories building. So what we did is, we got the samples of all the finishes and possibilities that we wanted to show them. Then we had virtual reality. The architect was kind enough to actually put in Revit different families of different finishes. So that really helped a lot.
So we could have an owner being in a specific room. He can see the space. Then he can touch and feel the carpet on the table. Then he can take off the goggles. He can see what color options he has, and he can select it right on the spot. It takes probably five minutes for him to select, rather than seeing it on a 2D drawing, having to open the submittal, having to go on their website to research and do stuff like that.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
[BEEPING]
DUSAN SELEZAN: They are modeling everything in Revit, and then they give us a couple of different models with the options. And then we push it to the Fuzor in order to use a virtual reality capability.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: Well, they're going to be large anyway. like, our usual, typical files are like 500 megabytes at the end of the project. So yeah. It's going to be large anyway. So using VR for finishes and selection and trying to speed up that process is something new that we started doing recently on this project in particular. But having a buy-in from the architect, from the design team is really important. Because us as a general contractor, we can only push so much. And then also making sure the owner is there, that they bring all of the groups, all of the decision makers, so that we don't need to go through that irritation 10 times, that we can do it in one meeting rather than having to do it in a week, right?
So this is a project that we were discussing earlier. Not only that you're selecting finishes, but then you can also check the light analysis. You can see how the shadows are going to play. So the big aspect was the natural light, zero net energy, how are the shadows going to play depending on the position of the sun?
So being able to present them in virtual reality is really nice for the owner. It increases customer satisfaction at the end of the project. They're going to start liking this team better. And then when you go for a new project, you probably have some advantages as well.
Another point to bring up in here, we had a budget of around 100,000K for the art piece for this interior hallway. So what the county wanted to do is to make a public auction and to invite all of the local artists and say, hey, we have this budget. What do you propose for this facility?
So imagine having artists looking at a 2D drawing, our typical floor plan, and trying to design something in that space. They cannot see the elevation. They cannot imagine the space. They do not see finishes. So doing something off of a 2D drawing can be really challenging. Doing it in a BIM, flying them through the model? Yeah, they'll get a better sense for space, for lights, for everything. But they're not going to get that three dimensional aspect as if they were in the room.
But having artists in the VR mode, actually we presented only to the winner. We flew them. It was a little bit of a challenge, but she could get a way better understanding what she's trying to design for. Is it going to be the hanging art? Is it going to be wall mounted art? How is the light going to affect that light? Where is it going to be hanging from?
So all these decisions and having a VR set presented to the artist is something that helped us throughout the process. So client satisfaction is what we're there for. We've got to make sure that we're providing services to our clients and that they we're not just building buildings to make money at the end of the day. So VR, I would argue that it brings client satisfactions to the next level.
So the key takeaways-- engage end users into design. You're going to get their attention with the VR spatial arrangements. I talked about the furniture. I talked about the walls. Depending on a facility that you're building, faster design validation and approval, right? They're the ultimate client. They're going to approve or deny something. So if they can see it better and faster, it's going to work better for us as well. Earlier decision making.
And then I talked about virtual mockups and money that we saved on that. VR for construction. So safety, as you all know, is really big nowadays in construction. OSHA says that 30% of all accidents happen to the workers that have less than a year of experience. And that's understandable, right? Using logic, you'd think that the guys that haven't been there are going to hurt themselves way easier than the ones that have been there for a long time.
So then we started implementing a bunch of training. So every project has a specific training. Every company has a training. And these guys are just going from one to another, and they're sleeping through half of it. The most exciting part of the training for them is a free coffee and a breakfast. We see them every Friday coming to our office, and we can feel how they're feeling about our safety training.
So how can we engage workers to really pay attention to safety? How can we make it more interesting? Well, one thing to do is having virtual reality animations and actually putting them virtually on the project that they're going to be working on, walking them through, explaining all of the safety risks on the project, and making sure that they know where they need to go and how to behave.
This is another video, but I'm just going to skip it. So basically for this project, this is our company in Hong Kong, Gammon, that prepared for their workers over there. So they have an entire site orientation virtually. They're walking every worker through the site. They show them where the rest area is, where they can take breaks, where the water is, where the restrooms are, where they cannot walk because there is separation between vehicles and pedestrians and everything else.
So having an early understanding of the project site is going to really bring up the safety to a next level, especially with the guys that haven't been there for a long time. So I gotta play this video. Sorry. It's pretty cool.
So this is something that Balfour Beatty and our colleague from North Carolina area has been working with Autodesk, is actually creating a safety training for full protection. Number one incidents in construction is falling, right? 60% of all the accidents happen because people fall. And having a proper safety orientation and having the right equipment is really big.
So we teamed up with Autodesk, and we're creating a virtual reality training for tying off, for having the safety, the right and proper safety orientation for the fall protection. So what it does, it's probably too small now, since I can't enlarge this screen. But what it does, is basically you're starting with you're saying what is your height. Than you see the actual full protection equipment. Then you've got to check and make sure that everything is tied off.
Usually, they put the like one rope that's not connected. So you've got to click on that and say, hey, this is wrong, in order to move to the next step. So once you move to the next step, then they put you at the sixth floor of this high rise, and you're tasked with finding the default safety guards around the perimeter.
So you've got to walk around the floor. You've got to find that safety guard that's misplaced. Then you've got to select and say, hey, this is where the issue is. Then you've got to find the best, again, protection. You've got to put the safety full protection on yourself before you can fix that. Because if it's broken, and if you start working on it, you can fall down.
And then the training also asks you to find the proper location where you can tie off your safety protection. At the end of the project, you get a score. So if you try too many times, if you didn't do it in time, it will give you a low score. So by keeping track of scores, we can see who did well, who did not perform well, so you know how you can deal with that company or with certain individuals in the future and if you need to expose them to some more training.
So what we're proposing and what I'm usually saying, everyone can find use in virtual reality. If you're a specialty contractor-- do we have any mechanical, electrical, plumbing contractors in the room? No. So let's say you're a construction company and that's out performing concrete or mechanical or welding. Why not have virtual reality training for all these tasks? Why not expose your workers somewhere in the 3D environment and making sure that they pass on a computer before you employ them full time and put them on a project that's maybe too dangerous for them?
If you're a crane operator, same thing. Why not have crane operating training, making sure they understand all of the tools that they have actually radius, and that they get the feeling for what they're going to be working in the future, before you put them actually on the work to do that. Again, going back, 30% of all the workers that are injured are less than a year in the industry.
So what is the difference between virtual reality and augmented reality? You've probably heard throughout the days of conference. Augmented reality or mixed reality, you are seeing actually in front of you, but then you're also seeing a model on top. So if you're standing on the new project, you have only ground in front of you, but once you put goggles on it, you can see the actual building that's going to be built in the future over there.
So how can that help us think about all the underground existing utilities? At least every third project someone hits a gas line or water line or sewer line. And those can be dangerous. If we can capture everything that we're building in today in terms of civil underground utilities, put it in a 3D model, set it to the VR, for 20 years from now when we are doing reconstruction or anything can really help us in the future. Rather than going off of the 2D as built plans that are usually not accurate, you can now laser scan everything that you install. You can put it in the model, and 30 years from now, your worker can have goggles on. As he's digging, he'll know exactly where not to dig so that he doesn't hit the pipe.
Another good thing is facility management, facility maintenance. Why not everything that's hidden behind the wall when you employ the new person that hasn't seen this, why not give him an opportunity to learn about his future project that he's going to be a working probably for the rest of his career, flying him through the model, give him the virtual reality experience so when he needs to, if anything breaks, if it's behind the ceiling, if it's behind the wall, he knows exactly the location of where that valve is, where he needs to exit to fix something. So another good utilization can be for facility maintenance and management.
And then talking about augmented reality for actual construction, this is our team off of UK that is using augmented reality with a software called Synchro for testing out a crane operation, making sure that the crane is not going to interface with surrounding buildings, with the public, and that actually there is enough space and that they can plan the movements of each steel and concrete beam in the right location. That's something that, if it's done on a 2D drawing, or if you're just doing in a BIM is really hard to visualize.
But if you put goggles on, if you go on site, and if the augmented reality is set up properly, you can actually visualize the entire operation. So having a crane operator do training and do kind of a pre-test planning for this activity can be really beneficial, and it can bring up the safety overall.
Future development. So what do you think is coming up with VR? I missed the keynote, so maybe there was something over there that I haven't seen. So any ideas? Or what do you think is really going to impact our industry? So let's start with collaboration, how our designers are working? Well, usually in silos. Architect designs the building. His sends it to the structural engineer. The structural engineer designs it. Then they send it to mechanical, plumbing. Everyone is working in their own silos. Even if it's the same company doing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, there is still a lot of clashes.
Yeah, that's all fine, because later they're going to give it to general contractor. He's going to do BIM coordination, probably spend another six, seven months on coordinating, and then we're going to go and build it. Why spend six, seven months if we can design it correctly in the first place?
So virtual reality for design collaboration is something that we think can really improve design. If all of the designers, architects, mechanical electrical structural guys can kind of a work at the same time, not from the beginning, but let's say you get to 20, 30% schematic design, and when the structural engineer needs to be involved to make some decisions, if he can put the goggles on and work in real time at the same time with everyone else, it will improve design for sure.
Another good point is, there is a lot of companies creating specific software for virtual reality. I've seen a presentation the other day from Ikea. They have a virtual reality app. Even Amazon, all other companies that are trying to sell something have a VR app. So if we're planning homes, if you're going to build your future house, why not do it in 3D, in a VR environment. By choosing all the materials, actually you can see there is even a price next to it.
So you can do target [INAUDIBLE] design for your future home. You can do your bedroom, and you can know exactly how much it is going to cost, where you're going to place everything, furniture, equipment, et cetera. So if we can have something like this, let's say in Revit, it is going to save us time. We don't need to go to every manufacturer website to download everything, but we're hoping that more and more manufacturers will have this capability, and this is going to be just like the Apple or other phone apps. Everyone's going to have an app for VR pretty soon.
Same thing for retail stores. I'm seeing retail stores for clothing having a VR app. So you don't need to go to the Macy's anymore. Now you can try out your new suit or a dress just through VR at your home. And actually as you're moving, the dress is moving as well. So you can see, if you want to dance, how it's going to follow you as well.
Another thing that we're seeing is actually the entire internet moving to VR. Google issued a VR mode for their search engine. So if the website has a VR capability, you can put your Oculus or goggles on, and now you can see that website in VR. Again, if you're buying furniture, if you're buying-- whatever you're buying, you're going to be able to rotate to almost feel as if it is real, rather than when you go on Amazon and you're trying to buy, let's say, a shower head, and it looks like it's big and it's looking great, and then it comes in a box and it's actually this small. Because you can feel the size and the scale. So that's another advantage of using VR for your shopping list.
So websites more and more are going to transfer to the virtual reality environment. What's next? I gotta go back to that one. We already talked-- Mark Zuckerberg, when he showed the Oculus 2, he talked about conference meetings being in a virtual reality. You have offices all over the world just like construction. It happens rarely that the entire team is in the same city, right? Your structural engineer is in Denver. Your architect is in Portland. But you're building something in Memphis.
So having virtual reality big room meetings or you're teleconferencing, why not have the feeling that everyone is in the same room, even though you're 1,000 miles away? So this is something that I think we're going to switch during our go-to meeting, our [INAUDIBLE] meetings in coordination with virtual reality as well.
And then something that I just came across is actually the world's first brain computer VR interface. It allows users to control VR with only their minds. So you're now using your hands. You're not using your body. How it works is, the software is actually reading your brain impulses. It has the capability to learn what you're thinking, and then it's going to read that and do it in practice. So a brain computer interface allows people to control software and devices using only their brain activity.
It is an approach of neuroscience, biologists, statistics, machine learning, and designed to create the ultimate user interface. So think about how many times if you're modeling something in Revit, you've got to click and try to align before you actually get there. We're talking about precision. We're talking about a lot of time that we waste on trying to do something with a mouse or with a computer. But if we can actually do our work by just thinking and not having physically to do it, and the computer is going to do it anyway, I think that's going to be critical. Then we don't need to be in our office anymore. We can be laying down in a bed and working from our bed, right?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: Sorry?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: Yeah.
[BEEPING]
So this is another video about that same software, how it's working so. They just wanted to visualize. So the device is reading your brain impulses. You're thinking about the photo. The photo is going to show up on your screen. You're thinking about downsizing that photo, or you want to explore it more. It's going to do it for you without you having physically to touch or do anything.
So to summarize the class, VR design in construction takeaways-- we're using it to optimize design, right? We talked a lot about design optimization. It enhances communication. Think about all the teleconferencing, go-to meetings and everything else. But then also in terms of communication to the owner. What we're trying to communicate is the actual design and not just words.
Earlier decision making, improves client and user engagement, and has the safety and security. That's a big one that we spend a lot of time on doing research. It bridges gaps that BIM currently cannot do. And that's one to one scale, the actual immersive environment, and then virtual mockups. Then I'll ask you to ask me some questions, please, before we conclude. Oh, that was fast. Yes.
AUDIENCE: I have a question. [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: So what is the software that was created? Is it Revit? Is it CAD?
AUDIENCE: Plan design switch.
DUSAN SELEZAN: Plan design switch. To be honest, I mainly work with AutoCAD software. So can you push it as DWG file? OK, it is DWG. Well, then, yeah, you can transfer it from-- you can put it in Navisworks, and then you can bring it in Navisworks. And from Navisworks, you can push it with Fuzor or any other VR capable--
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: ReMake?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
DUSAN SELEZAN: I'm not familiar with ReMake. But if you do it in Revit, you can do a Live or Stingray to push it also in VR. Yes?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: Yes. Yeah, I'm sorry about the technical difficulties throughout the entire presentation. Yeah, so that's what it was. 50 years ago when he saw it. Yes, all the way in the back.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: Pay for the virtual mockups? So actually it doesn't cost us anything more. So we already have everything modeled, because it is in our contract to model it, because we need to perform BIM coordination. So the architect is going to model it. Yes, it's going to probably take me half an hour to do a selection box, to maybe render something. But we do not charge them extra. That's included in our BIM overhead. Yes.
AUDIENCE: When you're doing the augmented reality, [INAUDIBLE]?
DUSAN SELEZAN: So you need to find the benchmarks. You need to find at least two points in order to align it properly. So let's say you have civil model, 3D model, or just a 2D model that you're going to bring into Revit or into the DWG file right into the AutoCAD. So you're going to select those two points. You're going to go on the site. You know where your PK nails are, right? Those are going to be those two points.
So that's how you're going to adjust. So once you put the AR, you're going to grab the model, literally it grab it with hands, and you're going to place one point right there where that nail is. Then you're going to go to the next one and place the other point right there.
So in terms of accuracy, it's not currently accurate to lay out the walls and MEPs. But if you're on the site, if you're trying to do like a crane animation, if you're trying to place larger equipment, your accuracy can be within inches or feet. So it's in development for--
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: So that's kind of my future idea what it can be used for. We're not currently using it, but just thinking ahead of time how it can be used for different scopes. And that's my message to everyone. We all do different types of projects. We do different systems, so try to get away, try to think how can you apply this. Pretty soon, it's not going to be expensive to have custom made animations or custom made apps for any of you. Just like your phone apps now, you can probably have someone do it for $200, where when it came out it was probably in the range of 10,000 bucks. So same thing with this. The price is just going to go down. Any other questions? Yes.
AUDIENCE: So if you have a [INAUDIBLE] model, how long does it take for [INAUDIBLE]?
DUSAN SELEZAN: Yes, so it depends on the size. I would say 100 megabytes model, which is like an early design. Without everything, it's going to take maybe a minute and a half to push it. If it's like a 500 megabytes model, it might take five minutes. Yeah, so it is really improving. Where before you really had to know how to actually do some of the software writing and like CC+, C like three years ago with the Stingray and stuff like that in order to push that. That's why it was taking days, where now everyone can do it just with a plug-in. Just as if you were to push it from Revit to Navisworks works with a plug-in, it's exactly the same process to push it to Fuzor or Live.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
DUSAN SELEZAN: Yeah. So yeah, you can--
AUDIENCE: I saw that, but I wasn't sure [INAUDIBLE].
DUSAN SELEZAN: Yeah, and now it's bi-directional. So let's say you're in your Oculus. You're seeing something in Fuzor. Revit Live doesn't do it, but Fuzor does. And you want to move the wall, it's going to move the wall in the Revit too. So you don't need to go back to Revit. It's bi-directional. And then you can do also a lot of other animations inside of Fuzor. Like you can place all these cranes. You can do rotations. You can have animations. You can have whatever. The water fountain and the water splashing and fire and so on.
So it's really coming closer to like a movie making industry. And why not? If we can experience better, why not be on the same level as Hollywood is? OK. Anything else? You guys just want to stay here and chill for a little bit? OK, thank you everyone. I appreciate being here with me.