VR v/s AR New era of Digital Architecture!

Nowadays technology is developing faster than one can imagine. People are making amazing things that might surprise you or you have thought that it might be a future technology! VR (Virtual Reality) & AR (Augmented Reality) both are new technology that will change the way people imagine the world till now. Both technologies basically help people to imagine about the things that is still not built.

Let’s understand first about the technology than we will see how the technology helping architects & designers in their field.

Virtual Reality is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. The only limits to near-real VR experiences are the availability of content and cheap computing power.

VR or Virtual Reality is basically a simulated environment that is developed in model making software i.e., sketch up, Maya, 3ds max or any other 3D software. Then there are rendering software that render the whole model in to a virtual visual world that we had seen in gaming like Need For Speed or Counter Strike or the same simulation that pilots use to learn flying a plane. But for realistic experience you need to were VR glasses so that you can actually feel the simulation like real.

These will help people to express their idea in a visual way so that other person will get the exact idea what the design or architect want to explain. It has made so many things easy & entertaining like gaming, education, sports, training, etc.

AR or Augmented Reality is similar to VR but much advance & the best part is it works on VR glasses and in your tablet of smartphone too. Augmented reality is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. Basically, AR is the technology that helps people to imagine the virtual world in real time with real world. Designer design the model in the software the technology puts the virtual model in the real world with the help of the smart device’s camera.

Let me more simplify the thing. Have you played Pokémon go. That game is purely based on augmented reality of AR. The game put the virtual character in the real world that you can perceive by the smartphone. That is AR.

Now, Software engineers are developing the technology for Architects and engineers. This technology will help the various agency related to designing and developing the real estate sector. One can imagine the building before even executing the building on the site in 1:1 scale. There are so many possibility we can see achieve with the technology.