Information-rich virtual environment (VE) for design review
Mohd Fairuz Shiratuddin, Walid Y. Thabet · Murdoch Research Repository (Murdoch University) · 2007
ABSTRACT: In the A/E/C industry, design review techniques are used to improve design quality, insure compliance with current codes and standards, improve design constructability, and meet project’s goals and owner’s objectives. Design review is a multi-tasking approach; information from various independent sources (e.g. building codes and standards, design specifications, design manuals, etc.) needs to be referenced concurrently while reviewing and coordinating plans of various design disciplines. Current common design review methods rely mainly on paper-based checklists and 2D plans to perform the review. Several disadvantages of these manual methods can be identified, including: 1) checklists are generic and reviewers need to identify the guidelines that apply to a given review; 2) checklists are also linear in nature which may force the review to follow a pre-defined top-to-bottom sequence; 3) current methods do not allow for a structured automated approach to capturing and sharing reviewers ’ comments and feedback; 4) information may not be retrieved quickly and efficiently within the limited review time frame. This renders the design review process time- and resource-intensive which may force reviewers to sacrifice the thoroughness of their reviews. This paper describes an information-rich virtual environment (VE) framework for design review. The framework utilizes a real-time intelligent algorithm to access needed data and information to perform a design review while viewing the 3D model. The algorithm provides various search and retrieval modes to assist the user in filtering, querying, sorting and displaying data and information during the 3D model walkthrough. Reviewer’s comments and changes are captured and shared by others. A proof of concept prototype is being implemented using the Torque 3D Game Engine.