In recent years scanned materials have become one of the virtual architectural industry’s most sought after techniques. Scanned materials or PBR has breathed new life into designs with the ability to provide texture, light and depth to an object in a render. Scanned materials absorb reality into a virtual environment and offer a more holistic view of an object. Scanned materials are occupying a significant position in multiple spaces namely the real estate, construction, architecture, prototyping and gaming environments.

Accurate representations of physical reality impact the virtual reality experience in multiple ways. 3D scanning of objects gives a deeper understanding of the space the object occupies and the relationship between this space and the object. 3D scanning allows us to interrogate the model to see its thermal and structural inefficiencies which are a vital component in the design process.

Real estate

Real estate is one of the many industries that has wholly focused on digital as its primary sales avenue. Therefore marketing and selling real estate developments through these digital channels require perfected visuals and video content. Most real estate companies struggle to connect 2D imagery to a 3D virtual environment. Scanned materials aid this process by adding more realistic elements in both interior and exterior renders through their accurate light and texture components. This addition to renders gives buyers a holistic view of the space that is more accurate in scale and dimensions.

Architecture

Scanned material saves time and money in the architectural design process, especially when it comes to renovations and additions to existing buildings. The capturing of 3D scans is highly beneficial to this process as it is often used as a template to draft a model that is much more accurate than designs removing any chance of errors within the existing building. In this way scanned materials create a complete replica of current developments, bringing light, depth and accurate spacing into the virtual experience. This type of model can be manipulated to showcase the alterations in a realistic environment. Scanned materials alter the old processes in architecture, saving time on numerous corrections that would need to have been drawn up and saves money for both the client and architect reverts.

Construction

Scanning materials is an integral part of modern constructions processes and allow companies to verify constructions accuracies. Scanned materials are becoming more feasible as a construction requirement because it can be layered over a virtual model to judge its accuracy. Previously, to map the construction accuracy to the design would require an intensive logistical approach. In modern construction, all players involved in the development can judge how the model correlates to the development after scanning the environment and translating it into a 3D visualisation.

Gaming

Scanning the human body and its intricacies empowers game designers to integrate, realistic human components into the gaming environment successfully. Virtual reality games have embraced light, textures and depth from scanned materials to create a hyper-realistic virtual reality gaming experience. Most games are already using scanned materials in their construction of virtual environments but using this material to develop people or avatars in the games is a relatively recent endeavour. These avatars are seen in broader scenarios than just the gaming industry. Real estate marketing will also benefit from using hyper-realistic people in their virtual tours to give viewers a virtual reality experience like no other.

Prototyping

Testing material choices and furniture is a vital component of the overall development process. For real estate and development marketing, incorporating interior design elements is crucial for a realistic render and virtual tour. Using these realistic materials in virtual reality tours and videos strengthen the value of the virtual experience. Rapid prototyping is useful in interior design environments for people looking to renovate their home and choosing the right textures and elements. Prototyping introduces 3D objects into an environment for testing materials, furniture placement in space and testing colours and patterns.

Scanned materials are a powerful resource to implement in virtual reality environments. At Vizform we believe in creative innovation, and as a family of visualisation specialists and marketing and development specialists, we are dedicated to making your dream a reality. We continually add to our list of services and skill sets which is why we are proud to have an in-house, proudly Vizform, PBR scanner. We are pleased to incorporate scanned materials into our virtual renders.