IBACOS

As a leader in smart home innovation, IBACOS needed valuable content for the home-building industry in the form of easy-to-read interactive illustrations depicting complex assemblies.

Problem

America’s home-building industry was facing a workforce shortage amid an increased demand in quality and affordable housing.

Bringing new hires up to speed on optimal building practices, which go beyond government mandates, is another challenged faced by the higher-performing production-home builders. IBACOS contacted Lyon Ritchie to explore technologies available today that would take the documentation of their construction standards to the next level – making them more accessible on-site.

Our Approach

Real-time 3D, once restricted to video game consoles, is now widely available: on desktop, mobile devices, and automobile dashboards. With 3D graphics the user is free to explore an assembly, examining layers and trigger animations of a complex installation.

We researched and demonstrated real-time 3D production processes and technologies, evaluating each for accessibility and cost, favoring open formats. The chosen method was tested before being extended to five additional construction standards.

Solution

Working with their building scientists we adapted IBACOS’s existing 3D models, used for printed checklists and step-by-step instructional material. Textures, representing familiar materials, were optimized for real-time use; animation added to communicate sequencing; and light and shadow to enhance readability.

Performance was tuned for a mobile experience so that crews can reference the information on the job site. A custom user interface responds to screen size and orientation and includes step selection, cutaway view, playback and scene reset.

With real-time 3D, in the web browser, wait time is eliminated for application compiling or animations to render. Updates are immediate and deployed to the production server in seconds.