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It’s always a pleasure to see Soluis among the exhibitors at a BIM conferences, as I know they’ll have something new and exciting to show in the field of digital creativity. This certainly proved the case when I saw them at The Crystal building on London's dockside earlier this year.

Imagine if you will a business card with a glyph on the reverse side, or, on another scale, a large diagram on the floor. Point your iPad at the glyph and, with a simple programme from the Soluis website installed, watch the glyph transform itself into a 3D digital model on the iPad screen, which you can move around, through or watch develop as a 4D simulation. Of course in practice it’s a relatively simple augmented reality (AR) application, with the glyph being used as the key for uploading the model from a remote server - but as a visual demonstration of digital creativity it’s stunning!

This is just one aspect of Soluis’ expertise in creating augmented virtual reality experiences being used to good effect within the construction industry, as part of its drive towards full BIM integration.

The Glasgow-based company has developed an excellent reputation for providing innovative visualisation solutions for architects, helping them present the very best view of their concepts for securing contracts, winning competitions, getting planning permissions and enhancing marketing coverage for major projects. Soilus help to make BIM and construction projects accessible and understandable to both stake and shareholders - i.e. the public - alike.

As for its strategic growth, the company has recently assimilated a couple of other digital creation powerhouses under its wings, including Kairos-VR, who turn construction projects into 3D constructed environments, enabling them to be viewed through virtual reality headsets. The company achieves this using the Oculus Rift VR headset, which provides highly convincing stereoscopic simulation with accurate depths of field, enabling viewers to get a real grasp of how a building or room will feel in reality. Oculus was acquired by Facebook earlier this year for a staggering $2 billion.

Augmented Reality allows users to view and interact with digital content on hand-held devices such as smartphones and tablets, in real-time and associated directly with real-world objects. It enables users to point their device at, say, a wall and see and interact with overlaid information about the building, or it could potentially be used to map an entire photorealistic model of a building onto an empty building site - a space which it might eventually inhabit in reality. VR then takes it further by fully immersing the user in a digitally modelled environment, typically using headsets with inbuilt cameras, enabling users to 'walk' around and interact with the environment in question.

Michael Thuell, co-founder of Kairos-VR, explained that they started the company with the vision of utilising virtual reality as a powerful tool for comprehending designs. Commenting, Michael said "By joining Soluis, such a vision can be realised, allowing us to build on the foothold we have developed in the industry." He added, "We are confident that virtual reality will revolutionise how the building sector operates, eliminating problems at an early stage and enhancing communication and clarity."

Soluis has also acquired Pixogram, the Scottish digital immersion specialists. Pixogram's fulldome virtual reality installations will extend Soluis' numerous media production capabilities, and is considered a natural extension to the company's commercial virtual and augmented reality solutions.

Fulldome environments - or digital domes - are a digitisation of the planetarium concept. Through multi-projector blending, a 180 x 180 degree screen is achieved, offering viewers an experience close to 'being there'. Fulldomes can be scaled to suit audiences of hundreds of people, right down to small intimate groups.

They are usually used for things like pre-rendered astronomical films or life sciences, but the latest digital technology is seeing interest from groups who want to offer VJing, gaming, interactive film and digitally augmented live performances - in fact any organisation interested in providing a means whereby viewers can experience and engage with three dimensional space.

As Pixogram founder Jonathan Knox explains, "The world is round, not flat, yet the digital world is still to catch up. At Pixogram we make this happen through fulldome screens and immersive media, placing viewers inside digital content to facilitate stronger experiential connections to design intent."

Pixogram's technology, IP and client base in entertainment, events and tourism will be merged with Soluis' expertise and presence in design, engineering and infrastructure, promising some exciting new developments over the next few years.

Both of the above technologies have exciting implications for the construction industry. Soilus is enabling users to explore model concepts in real-time, gain high-profile information about a project, and thereby make informed, justified and low- risk decisions based on their knowledge.
www.soluis.com