Imagine that on a smooth screen, as soon as you put on your 3D glasses, an absolutely realistic and three-dimensional architectural model appears. Imagine that you can remove the roof or external walls from the layout and see the interior space. Or change the color of the facade. Or start the elevator. Imagine that cars drive into the parking lot on a model of a residential complex. Or children are playing in the yard … Such opportunities are provided by the NettleBox virtual reality screen, produced by the Russian technology company Nettle. The viewer can interactively study all the details of the project by manipulating the layout and changing its scale.
How it works
Outwardly, NettleBox is a horizontally mounted screen. When constructing the image, a technique is used that is used to create "3D drawings on the asphalt", which look three-dimensional only from a certain point. But for the NettleBox viewer, objects look three-dimensional and realistic from all angles due to real-time projection rebuilding depending on the user's position. This is possible thanks to the Motion Parallax 3D technology developed by Nettle: specialized 3D glasses with built-in infrared markers are used for viewing, the system uses them to track the position of the viewer relative to the screen with high accuracy and instantly rebuilds the image for each new coordinates. At the same time, NettleBox uses an important mechanism of human perception of volume - parallax, so the virtual model is perceived by our brain not as a stereo picture with depth effect, but as a real, tangible object.
Along with rendering technology, the manufacturing company is developing a content creation toolkit that includes SDKs and plugins for popular 3D engines, which allows 3D visualization studios to produce professional content for NettleBox.
How to manage
The object shown on the NettleBox can be anything, including animated. The virtual hologram is based on an interactive 3D model. And this opens up wide presentation opportunities for architects or developers - interactive interaction with the subject of the installation, up to complete control of the virtual world. In real time, users can change materials, decor and interior using, for example, a touch panel or tablet. NettleBox allows you to reproduce any functional scenario: for example, the movement of pedestrians. You can change the scale of the object - zoom in to study details or zoom out to view the entire panorama. NettleBox allows you to demonstrate any lighting options: dynamic day and night, architectural lighting of facades. Contextual information can be displayed on individual objects: area of premises, technical characteristics, etc.
One device can be used to display an unlimited number of objects by simply changing the content. At the same time, NettleBox allows you to make operational changes to the layout as the project develops.
How to use
NettleBox screens introduce a new approach to the presentation of architectural objects at real estate exhibitions and in the showrooms of development companies.
The premiere show of NettleBox took place in Cannes within the framework of the world real estate exhibition MIPIM-2013 at the stand of the development company OJSC Hals-Development, one of the first owners of the new device. Visitors to the exhibition were presented with the towers "Moscow City", the Central Children's Store on Lubyanka, elite residential areas.
Anastasia Sukhantseva, Director of the Marketing Department of Hals-Development OJSC, on the new presentation device NettleBox: “At the MIPIM exhibition we made sure that holographic layouts are convenient for us as an exhibitor and interesting for clients. We have set ourselves the task of translating all our projects into virtual holograms. Besides exhibitions, NettleBox is used in the showroom of the sales department. This allows our clients to immediately assess the layout of the apartment, and the plan of the residential complex, and the arrangement of the entire block."
