海角视频

Game engine technology is no longer confined to the games industry. The built environment has adapted it to enable innovative real time simulation and immersive experiences, to bring buildings to life. Here, we examine the growth and scope of game engines.

Design technology is an intricately connected web 鈥� and it is constantly growing. What was once confined to certain industries is increasingly spreading, bringing with it new applications, benefits and insights.

Creative technologies such as game engines act as an interdisciplinary workflow to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. In adopting a software framework 鈥� a game engine 鈥� that creates immersive and interactive real time 3D environments, the AEC industry once again positions itself at the forefront of design technology.

What is a game engine?

A game engine may sound like we are referring to a different industry altogether; indeed, game engines originated in the gaming industry. The term refers to a software framework that was initially developed to create video games; it is the foundation on which video games are built.

In that context, they are the framework that video game developers build multiple elements around eg 3D graphics, audio, physics elements, input handling and scripting. A game engine acts as a facilitator, with all the tools needed to create an exciting and immersive gaming experience.

So far, so technical. Why should the AEC industry be concerned with what happens within the entertainment sector?

The technology which underpins a game engine can be used for more than was originally conceived and is not only limited to video games. The principle is a framework in which multiple elements of a space or design can be simulated and interacted with 鈥� this holds up for what those of us in the built environment need.

Game engines can help understand space and scale.

Paul Eastell, global visualisation lead, 海角视频

Because a game engine transforms ideas into visual content, it can create fully realised, real-time environments that clients can inhabit while travelling through the journey of designing, developing and constructing a building 鈥� before a single hole is dug in the ground. The ability to visually represent analysis-derived building performance (even that which is not typically visible) can provide engineers, designers and clients with unprecedented levels of insight.

Forget how we used to work 鈥� with game engine technology, we can enter an immersive, engaging, interactive and accurate environment that not only brings a building to life but can refine and shape design decisions in real time.

What does game engine technology provide?

Game engines allow designers and clients to evaluate projects in a true-to-life, accurate and interactive simulation for design decision making purposes. They are efficient and able to be offered with a fast turnaround, important in a world of ever increasingly tight deadlines. Engineering data from multiple disciplines can be imported into the game engine and controlled with a user interface, allowing the end user to turn aspects on or off. 海角视频 uses and Unity.

Game engine technology allows fully realised immersive engagement and real time simulation; this is not simply about showcasing an attractive or impressive design, it is about understanding and improving key aspects like structure and building services (MEP) systems as well. Instead of being used for entertainment purposes, using this technology in the built environment allows the embedding of real physics and experiencing the real behaviour of designs.

Game engine technology at 海角视频 can be used as part of the . This computational development project began at 海角视频; it is an inclusive computational environment that enables interoperability between different software types.

For game engines, the BHoM allows creation of habitats across different engineering and design disciplines. That means that it is possible to include aspects like heating, lighting, acoustics, structural performance, energy models, global warming potential etc in a compatible set of models. The BHoM brings all this together in a common language. Game engines can then provide a portal through which clients can consume everything we offer in a singular place: a truly rich, multi-and-trans-disciplinary design representation.

Immediate, real-time insights

Predictive modelling created by game engine technology is a transformative way of working. Erik Narhi is computational design lead at 海角视频, championing the adoption of game engine technology across the practice. He said, 鈥淕ame engine technology will transform the way projects are designed, analysed and delivered across the industry. We are now beginning to deliver applications that are used to drive client meetings; we are starting to mainstream this and bring game engine technology more and more into our standard project workflows.”

Game engine technology will transform the way projects are designed, analysed and delivered across the industry.

Erik Narhi, computational design lead, 海角视频

鈥淚t will be part of a suite of tools that will improve how we communicate with clients (especially visually), improve how we engage, and expand the ways that we can apply our expertise to guide projects as they go from concept to realisation.

鈥淎 primary use case for this is when we run parametric analyses on a wide range of proposed design options. Game engines give us a platform that makes it easy to explore the analysed options in a fully immersive 3D environment, and see the trade-offs in the results of those different options, juxtaposed and contextualised with analysis results in real time.”

This is the precise reason game engine technology is so useful. It provides a level of immediate, real-time, accurate insight that is useful both to us 鈥� as the designers and engineers 鈥� and to clients too.

Client value

This is high value storytelling, drawing clients in with interaction and participation in the design and consultation process. When clients can have a sense of ownership, their engagement and sense of involvement is increased. Erik Narhi said, 鈥淏y showing different options to clients using this technology, they are able to interact and make decisions in a way that makes them feel engaged. They own that process.鈥�

Naturally, using a game engine will not always be appropriate for each client. Erik Narhi explains, 鈥淚t is especially useful when we have clients who actively want to be engaged in a way that is way beyond PowerPoint and who appreciate out-of-the-box thinking. This especially applies on projects where we are looking at different options or where we鈥檙e trying to explore results to understand very high-performance demands, such as where building performance is critical.鈥�

The unique nature in which clients can become involved in a design is one that offers great advantages. Adam Copus is 3D visualisation artist at 海角视频. He said, 鈥淭he level of interactivity is a key benefit. Game engines allow you to explore a space in a way that wasn鈥檛 possible before. The actual ability to interact with that environment is key.

鈥淲e can give clients the controls to navigate through an immersive environment and toggle different options; they can see the data come to life from multiple perspectives. It can get clients really excited and help them better understand the designs and data.鈥�

The level of interactivity is a key benefit. Game engines allow you to explore a space in a way that wasn鈥檛 possible before.

Adam Copus, 3D visualisation artist, 海角视频

This immersion in projects provides an incalculable value. Erik Narhi said, 鈥淭he way in which this technology can bring projects to life is impressive. It is so much more engaging to see and experience something interactive. And it is explorative; when you tap into something in the game engine space you are able to fly around it, able to go in and walk around, able to query its underlying data. The ability to move around the space and see what it is going to feel like is hugely valuable.鈥�

Because game engine technology has developed so rapidly in a relatively short amount of time, we can be confident that it will continue to evolve and improve. Already, it is improving the way we work and the way we supply solutions to our clients. Erik Narhi said, 鈥淭his is a new way of working that makes us better. It has the potential to make us better designers, better engineers and better consultants.

“It is not just newness for its own sake; it is new way of doing things that is a provably better way of working. And looking to the future, game engines have broad capabilities that the AEC industry hasn鈥檛 fully explored yet. The possibilities are huge.

鈥淚鈥檝e spent my whole career constantly thinking about what the best way is to work on each project and asking if there is a better way to do things. For me, game engine technology is the evolution of how we can work better.鈥�

This is a new way of working that makes us better. It has the potential to make us better designers, better engineers and better consultants.

Erik Narhi, computational design lead, 海角视频

Game engines in action

It is helpful to consider a game engine as the tool which will provide specified outputs. The technology is the tool 鈥� but the outputs and how we use and experience them is the real deliverable. It is this that brings value. On a practical level, the outputs can be experienced on a desktop or through different technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and can even be streamed through a web browser, allowing low-spec or mobile devices to access these outputs.

Paul Eastell is global visualisation lead at 海角视频 and works at the forefront of this technology. He said, 鈥淕etting things across to the client is a multi-deliverable process nowadays, whereas traditionally it may have just been a model or an animation. Now, you have an animation if you want, but you can also jump into the model and truly experience it.鈥�

Interactive web browser model- David Attenborough Building refurbishment

A game engine is an effective and innovative design communication tool. Because using a game engine enables interaction and participation in the process, centred around specific demands, clients are inevitably engaged and interested in what is vibrantly and vividly demonstrated to them through game engine technology.

An interactive web model was created to capture the refurbishment updates for the David Attenborough Building refurbishment at the University of Cambridge. This allowed specific focus on lighting systems and associated photovoltaic panels on the roof. This was a simple and interactive way to communicate updates to the client.

With an increased expectation and demand from clients for the best quality design communication, they now expect this kind of work. It is up to us to meet this expectation 鈥� and exceed it.

How transformative is this for the built environment?

Those who work in this area have seen a remarkable expansion and transformation in the last few years, not least in the move of game engines over to the AEC industry. Adam Copus said, 鈥淎s game engines have rapidly grown in popularity so has the development of the software and tools in this space, and that is one of the things that excites me the most.

鈥淲e can create a wide range of experiences and simulations within a game engine; the possibilities feel limitless because the tools available are so powerful. The recent development of this software has had a clear focus on support for the AEC industry, introducing new tools to help with the importation, management and visualisation of engineering models and data.鈥�

海角视频 continues to lead in this area. The visualisation team are currently developing the concept of a 鈥榲irtual lab鈥�, where engineers and stakeholders can meet in a virtual space to explore design options at a very early stage (perhaps even before a BIM model exists). As a shared space that allows simultaneous review of data, design and supporting documents, this extension of the interactive nature of what a game engine can provide is the next step in where this technology could take us.