The purpose of this blog is to investigate how to get a Revit Model into InsiteVR to be able to view it with VR hardware or possibly collaborate in VR at a later stage. In the future, I’ll also investigate the workflow from BIM360 to insiteVR.
Process
I visited the InsiteVR website at www.insitevr.com and clicked the ‘Try for free’ option.
You’ll then go through a registration process and then you’ll be able to log in.
Once you are logged in you should go to the Downloads section as you’ll need to Download the InsiteVR application installer which includes the Revit Addin.
Once downloaded run the installer and go through the installation process.
Startup Revit and open the Basic Sample Building. Then look in the Add-in ribbon tab for the ‘Export to VR’ button. Click the button.
A process will start to open the model locally in the InsiteVR application.
Once the model has been opened locally you have an option to Upload the model to the InsiteVR cloud.
Once you click on the Upload button you can select the InsiteVR Project to upload to or create a new Project.
Once you have gone through the selection the Upload will happen and a message will appear that it’s been successfully uploaded.
You can then continue to view the model. Navigating with your Mouse and the w-a-s-d keys and q and e key to move up and down. We don’t have our VR headset ( HTC Vive) set up so the icon shows that there is no VR hardware available.
In the future, you can access this model from logging into the website and then selecting ‘My Projects’ and then select ‘Start VR meeting’ at the project you require.
Once you ‘Start VR meeting’ the projects open but you get asked if you’ll like to invite other users to the meeting.
It also goes through a microphone and a soundcheck.
If you want to invite user later you can just select the ‘Invite’ on the top right. You’ll also have certain rights being the Host of the meeting such as Muting everyone else.
Navigating is by using your mouse and w-a-s-d and q-e keys as mentioned before but if you hold your mouse right-click button then a pointer which is handy when collaborating.
If you want to walk through the building select the ‘Teleport Down’ icon at the bottom left. Place the positioning icon.
You can walk and look around using your keyboard and mouse, but you’ll not be able to walk through walls. Select the icon showing the ‘Person standing by the table’ to return to the Overview mode.
If you select ‘Flying Mode’ you’ll be able to fly through walls and solid objects.
Conclusion:
The process of getting a Revit model into InsiteVR is simple and straight forward. I also found it easy to navigate the model, walkthrough and fly around using my mouse and keyboard. I can’t wait to test it out with our HTC Vive hardware.
I think the ease of getting the model ready for collaboration is great and I think InsiteVR is a tool that every project should use for visualizing and meetings.
