A new app has been launched by Google that could help in developing building designs using BIM.
The app, named the Tilt Brush, comes bundled with the HTC Vive VR headset headset, which went on sale earlier this month. It allows designers and artists to paint in 3D within a virtual environment and is being hailed as “Microsoft Paint for the year 2020”.
Although aimed at artists, the VR paint brush has potential to be used by architects for sketching initial designs. Its future iterations can be used for editing or marking up 3D BIM models.
Architects were said to be keen to get their hands on the tool with Alistair Kell, director of information and technology at architectural practice BDP, telling BIM+ they were already utilising VR for client engagement and he would be tracking the progress of the Tilt Brush closely.
“The tilt brush is an interesting proposition,” he said. “At the moment we are making very good use of VR at a basic level, by sending models to Autodesk cloud and producing dozens of different VR models for client presentations.
“Initially I thought that VR was little more than an interesting toy, but now I think it’s one of the more powerful things that has come out of BIM as it puts people within the building.”
