Corey Rubadue of ArchVision joins the show to talk about Fovea, a tool that simplifies the process of translating and sharing 3d content across different 3d platforms and 3d file formats. In other words, it allows users to import data from various sources, process it, and then export it in a format that can be easily used in other applications. This eliminates the need for manual file conversions and reduces the risk of data loss. Fovea also supports a wide range of file formats, making it a versatile tool for 3d content creation and sharing with a user-friendly, simple drag-and-drop interface for people working on a deadline... that’s you.
EPISODE LINKS
EPISODE SPONSOR
Chaos
For a limited time, get a 20% discount on Fixed and Floating Annual License of Enscape. Head to https://chaos-enscape.com and use code RES24 at checkout to supercharge your design workflow.
Watch this episode on YouTube or Spotify.
-----
The Confluence podcast is a collaboration between TRXL and AVAIL, and is produced by TRXL Media.
Welcome Corey to the Confluence podcast.
2
:Uh, I've been looking forward to this one.
3
:Kind of near and dear to my heart,
Corey and I have known each other
4
:for a long time and, uh, have a
longstanding professional relationship.
5
:And, uh, when he's in town visiting,
he stays with me at my house.
6
:So it's, we're we're, we've been good
buddies for a long time, but, um, yeah.
7
:Today, uh, we're looking forward Corey
to, uh, learning about your work.
8
:on this fovea application and its
development and how this all came about.
9
:Just as a, um, for the audience,
there's been a lot of close work that
10
:ArchVision the company that Corey, uh,
runs, has been working closely with
11
:Avail, we call 'em sister companies.
12
:Uh, and, and we've been doing a lot of
integration of, of what Corey's gonna show
13
:you directly into the avail application.
14
:So, uh, Corey, maybe you can just
give everybody a uh, uh, kind of
15
:an intro to what Fovea is about.
16
:Corey Rubadue: Thanks for ha
17
:having me on, Randall.
18
:I appreciate it and I always
enjoyed talking with you guys, um,
19
:about everything we're doing here.
20
:Um, and Evan, good to
21
:see you Um, yeah, so Fovea, as of today
is a 3D model configuration platform
22
:that's part of our ARC vision ecosystem.
23
:And, uh, we, uh, can basically bring
in 3D models and data sets, scan, scan
24
:data, um, from outside sources into.
25
:Uh, the fovea application and publish
those assets back out into, various
26
:file formats, uh, for consumption
in many different 3D applications.
27
:Revit being our, our key SketchUp,
rhino Blender, handful of applications.
28
:Um, and it's, uh, the tool really designed
around, uh, democratizing 3D content
29
:and, uh, assets and helping people to
build or firms to build their asset
30
:libraries up in a big holistic, uh, way.
31
:Uh, so yeah, I mean that's a, that's
the, the nutshell about fovea.
32
:Um, I can say that, uh, when we started
this effort, we had really no plans to
33
:build exactly what we were building.
34
:Um, but, uh, it, it
evolved and, and based on.
35
:Customer needs, customer requests.
36
:And uh, also just really, uh, feeding
off from the technological relationship
37
:between, uh, arc vision and avail and
trying to integrate in, uh, different
38
:pieces of our technology with a avail
to make just really great customer
39
:experiences around content, content
creation and content management.
40
:All, um, in one, from one very
singular and holistic place, if you
41
:will.
42
:Randall Stevens: I think, um, you
know, with what I know, uh, uh, kind
43
:of insight into the fovea app, the,
uh, the thing that seems, you know,
44
:mo most, most of the time when you
would, uh, want to take a piece of
45
:content and produce other formats.
46
:Uh, seen that, you know, over the last
20, 25 years that I've been working
47
:in this industry, it's usually, you
know, I would call it a dumbing down.
48
:It's usually a l least common
denominator kind of, of these
49
:translators into these, uh, applications.
50
:And I know fo you know, fovea is
different in that each of those
51
:applications and different kinds of
file formats, it translates to Corey
52
:and his team have, uh, you know.
53
:They understand the native
capabilities of those applications
54
:and how to move that data into those
native applications and around.
55
:So maybe Corey, you can talk
a little bit more about, you
56
:know, what all went into that.
57
:Um, you know, even just more about your
background, you know, in the computer
58
:graphics side and, uh, how that's
played into, uh, really understanding
59
:this problem at a deeper level.
60
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah, sure.
61
:So, you know, practice architecture for
years and, uh, really was quite focused on
62
:the visualization side of, uh, practice.
63
:And, uh, I always said we were, we had
visual information modeling, before BIM
64
:was bim we were really trying to kind
of use, uh, visualization as a way to
65
:describe and show building design process.
66
:And outcomes as quickly and
as efficiently as possible.
67
:And as part of that process,
we built some technology.
68
:Um, we originally started working
on a product called Vray for
69
:Rhino, Vray for SketchUp, Vray
for Revit back in:
70
:And we got deep into the, inner works of,
of geometry materials, lights, all this
71
:stuff really super early on, and try to
get information converting from SketchUp
72
:into, uh, Vray file format as an example,
or Revit into, uh, the Vray file format.
73
:And so we just, we learned a lot
about these, um, applications,
74
:APIs to be able to take.
75
:Material from SketchUp at the time in
:
76
:for a material definition, um, you know,
a base color and maybe a texture map,
77
:but we weren't getting hyper, you know,
detailed information about the materials,
78
:like reflection values, refraction
values and stuff like that, because
79
:SketchUp didn't have that information and
that, uh, delivering through their API.
80
:But on the other hand, Revit did.
81
:So we had information coming from
Revit to be able to build, really,
82
:accurate 3D models from these
applications into, at the time it
83
:was very strictly vra uh, VRA assets,
VRA scene files, and VRA proxy files.
84
:so, that experience
really set the stage for.
85
:And help me kind of set the stage, reset
the stage for RPC, and I came on board
86
:in whatever it was, 2019 on at Avision.
87
:You know, the main purpose for me, at
least in my mind at the time and vision
88
:was like, Hey, there are still problems
with content out there in the world.
89
:People don't get enough content.
90
:People don't have enough 3D models
to access and get them in their
91
:project and inform their designs
or, or explain their designs.
92
:So our ARC vision just seemed to
be this platform where we could
93
:take these rrp, this RPC technology
and ultimately just transform it
94
:and bring it to a whole new level.
95
:And so that experience that I had with
vray, assets and creating scene files
96
:and trying to navigate content from one
application to another, served as that.
97
:Kind of catalyst, if you will,
for what we could do with RPC.
98
:And at the time when I stepped into the
ARC vision seat here, um, I really had to
99
:dig in and understand what was, what was,
what's, what was the DNA of of an RPC.
100
:And, uh, came, come to find out it was,
uh, as robust as it was in its early days,
101
:there were a lot of things that were not
in the RPC that needed to be there, like
102
:real materials for different objects.
103
:And, uh, you know, inside of a 3D model,
it was the RPC was designed to essentially
104
:either be image based where you had,
uh, 360 or more images inside of an RPC.
105
:And depending on the camera, it
would actually pop up an image, uh,
106
:and render that image at that time.
107
:or in a 3D model, or 3D RPC.
108
:It was a mesh.
109
:With, uh, or meshes with
textures baked on top of it.
110
:And the whole process of even getting
those 3D RPCs was, was pretty cumbersome.
111
:I mean, we using three Studio Max
going through a bunch of very technical
112
:things, uh, steps to get to, uh, and
our, uh, 3D RPC and get it out to
113
:the, you know, to your user base.
114
:And so, really as I stepped into this
role, you know, I try to understand like
115
:we, we don't want architects and designers
learning all this technical stuff.
116
:We really want to be able to kind of
come back down to the heart of what RPC
117
:and Randall and Avision design, which
was like ease of use, drag and drop, get
118
:everything inside of that file, and, just
make it easy for people to, to consume
119
:that piece of content and render period.
120
:mean we had to do a lot of dissecting of
the RPCs file structure and technology,
121
:uh, and then rebuild on top of that.
122
:And so, uh, looking at all these
lessons learned with Vray file formats
123
:and, and, um, other, you know, file
for formats like FBX or OBJ and uh,
124
:Colau files and things like that.
125
:Uh, coupled with, uh, looking at how
mental Ray was doing things and how
126
:Corona render and all these other
rendering engines were producing
127
:materials, geometry, how was all this
stuff transporting around, we had a
128
:lot of research to pull together to
try to come up and say, we want a, a
129
:really new single source of truth of
technology underneath the RPC file format.
130
:So.
131
:Evan Troxel: Corey, can you explain
what an RPC is for those who don't know?
132
:I'm sure almost everybody who's
listening to this or watching this
133
:has seen one, but they maybe don't
tie those two things together.
134
:What they see with RPC.
135
:Corey Rubadue: Sure.
136
:So RPC is a file format.
137
:Uh, RPR stands for, rich
Content is the acronym.
138
:And, uh, these are assets that,
um, it started out really just
139
:entourage cars, people, trees.
140
:Uh, the RPC families ship
with Revit as an example.
141
:So all the planting, uh, elements
that you can get outta the box
142
:of Revit are all RRP C files.
143
:And, uh, yeah, simple, simple,
144
:Evan Troxel: And, and basically what
you're seeing on the screen is like
145
:a, a very low resolution proxy of.
146
:When you render, it's gonna
look better than that.
147
:Right?
148
:But it's lightweight for the sake
of being lightweight in the model.
149
:And often it's like you see two billboards
kind of intersecting each other with
150
:a, with a outline around the object.
151
:So it, it kind of represents
a tree in that example, right?
152
:In Revit, when you place it, it has kind
of a, a base to it, and then two vertical
153
:billboards that represent the tree.
154
:But when you hit render,
you see a tree, right?
155
:And that's the idea behind this,
is you have this rich content that
156
:sits behind a very lightweight
geometry presentation in the
157
:Corey Rubadue: Absolutely.
158
:Yeah, that's, that's the whole idea
Randall, and I like to say it, uh, an
159
:RPC is a proxy for a future transaction,
160
:right?
161
:Um, it's, it's there, it doesn't
overburden your, your CAD
162
:package, whether it's SketchUp
or Revit or Rhino or whatever.
163
:The RPC is in there as
a, as a placeholder.
164
:Uh, and as soon as the
render hits that RPC.
165
:It'll, uh, it'll pull out the geometry,
the material, DNA, if you will, and
166
:render that in, in its photorealistic,
full photorealistic beauty.
167
:Evan Troxel: Cool.
168
:And content's always been the hardest
thing for architects to have to deal with.
169
:I mean, this is a conversation
we've all had over the years, right?
170
:Which is like we build models of
buildings, but putting the stuff in those
171
:buildings for the visualization, for the
space planning has always been difficult.
172
:Where do you find it?
173
:Is it the right quality?
174
:Is it too detailed?
175
:Is it not detailed enough?
176
:Is it made by the manufacturer?
177
:Is it the right dimensions?
178
:And this has always been hard and I,
you guys have been at the forefront of.
179
:Content or assets or entourage, like
all different words that we could
180
:kind of interchangeably use here.
181
:And so that, that's where the, the
value proposition is for what you're
182
:doing right, is democratizing the
creation of, and cataloging of, so
183
:that firms and, you know, practicing
architects, people doing visualization,
184
:have access to these things at their
fingertips to throw into their model.
185
:Because then it allows you to
focus on building the model, right?
186
:Not, not curating and
texturing and creating
187
:Randall Stevens: Yeah, and I'll throw,
I'll just throw in 'cause I was obviously
188
:involved with this in the earliest stages
and, you know, the, the people in the
189
:trees, the technique that was developed,
uh, uh, kind of underlying that technology
190
:was thrown at the tough problem of organic
things like people in trees, right?
191
:Where, where you've got very
complex geometry, potentially
192
:very complex materials and
textures to make that look real.
193
:So, you know, in its early days, it's
served its purpose in helping you
194
:know, the industry to, uh, you know.
195
:When that first came around, there wasn't
any, there was, there really wasn't any
196
:other good way, good way to do that.
197
:And especially at, at,
198
:Evan Troxel: no, you, you would load
one human or one tree model from
199
:onyx tree, for example, back in the
day, and it would have more polygons
200
:than your entire architectural model.
201
:Right.
202
:And it would just absolutely kill
back then when computing performance
203
:was, was very limited at that point.
204
:Right.
205
:So, I mean, the, the idea
206
:Randall Stevens: Yeah.
207
:And I think the, um, um, I, you
know, I think though that the, the
208
:DNA of that technology and which is
what made it, you know, very special
209
:when Corey came, you know, and
brought even more, uh, I'll say broad
210
:visualization platform knowledge to it.
211
:Um, the underlying technology had really
concentrated on how, how do you store.
212
:lots of different kinds of data.
213
:Not just geometry, but material
information and texture information.
214
:How do you package that?
215
:That's where the RPC file format came in.
216
:So that, so that it wasn't a bunch of
loose, you know, I call it loose content.
217
:You didn't want JPEGs over
here that were, you know, now
218
:not in the same path, and they
didn't render because a texture
219
:was missing and all that.
220
:So there was,
221
:you know, and that was, as Corey
said, that was all about, you know,
222
:how do you make this stuff easy?
223
:The way you make it easy is try to
224
:just not not let a mistake,
you know, even occur.
225
:And then, um,
226
:Evan Troxel: Yeah.
227
:Randall Stevens: and then, you know,
the other piece of that I think,
228
:you know, in the early days was, um,
that content needed to be able to
229
:be rendered in lots of different.
230
:Rendering engines and applications.
231
:So there was a long history of Arc
visions, the company having, uh,
232
:relationships with all of the rendering,
the people doing rendering engines.
233
:So, and getting that kind of baked in
there and supported, uh, kind of natively.
234
:And as Corey said, even, you know,
with Autodesk, I think they began
235
:shipping that Corey, what, 2010 or
11 whenever the tree and Foliage
236
:solution started shipping with Revit.
237
:So it's always been kind of
in the DNA to do all that.
238
:I think what's, you know, special
about what Corey's been doing now
239
:is, you know, one, I'll just say
modernizing the definition of the
240
:storage of that information inside
the file and, and those capabilities.
241
:But then, you know, looking at,
you know, can you, um, you know,
242
:maybe Corey, you can talk a little
bit more instead of having to have
243
:those companies, um, support the
RPC file format in some special way.
244
:What, uh, the team at Arc Fission's
been doing with the fovea application
245
:is saying, look, we can store it
all this data in its highest form,
246
:but we can spit it out into a native
form that that application wants to
247
:without losing or dumbing down quality.
248
:So, you know, it's, it's a
little bit of the opposite.
249
:Instead of everybody trying to consume
one file format, it's like, look, can
250
:we get the highest level of information
and then map that and translate it
251
:into the native formats that each
of those applications wants to know.
252
:So if you're trying to use it in
253
:Inscape, it's gonna know what
to do, or if you're gonna use it
254
:in Vray or one of these others.
255
:So.
256
:Evan Troxel: Give each
package what it is expecting.
257
:Before you do that, Corey, I just,
can we just share like how many
258
:nightmares we've had where we've.
259
:Sent the job to the render farm
overnight or for days at a time to come
260
:back and find that that one material,
that one diffused material or that one
261
:bump map or whatever was not there.
262
:Right.
263
:Oh my gosh.
264
:And you have to do the whole thing again.
265
:Right.
266
:Uh, we've, we've all been around
long enough to, to have lived that
267
:Randall Stevens: there's
a lot of complexity there
268
:Corey Rubadue: and that,
and that wasn't, um.
269
:Discriminatory in any way.
270
:Like didn't matter what the file
name was or the file size or what
271
:the texture map was for, if it was
missing, it was missing and it broke
272
:everything.
273
:Right?
274
:Evan Troxel: yep.
275
:Or some weird character in a
file name or something like that.
276
:It was just like the littlest
things and it was like, oh my gosh.
277
:It was a learning experience
278
:Randall Stevens: and it's still to
279
:this day, right?
280
:You can download, um, man, you know, I
see the manufacturer content all the time.
281
:Pull down a Revit family, you
know, from a manufacturer.
282
:Geometry will come in, right?
283
:It's in that RFA
284
:file.
285
:But as soon as you hit render
and you hit the rendering engine,
286
:it's like missing these maps.
287
:It's like, why did you know one, maybe
they didn't even come down with that
288
:file off, you know, as it was zipped
289
:up or something.
290
:So there's just, there's just still a lot
of complexity in the industry around this
291
:and uh, you know, but maybe Corey, you
can talk more about what you're trying
292
:to do with the fovea, you know, and
that sitting in the avail application.
293
:Corey Rubadue: Yes.
294
:I kind of killed a couple
birds with one stone here.
295
:If I zoom out just a little bit and
just talk about the other part of RPC,
296
:which is yes, there's the content, but
the, the technology that's that Randall
297
:you were alluding to, like there's
an A-P-I-A-C plus plus API behind RPC
298
:and originally that c plus plus API is
what our, um, our partners were using.
299
:So, folks that, on the Revit team or, or,
um, you know, there was Lux, um, a handful
300
:of other vendors, MicroStation, you
know, we had those companies coming and
301
:working with us, using our APIs at that
level to build integrations into their
302
:applications to support RPC and part of.
303
:know, my approach with this was to,
again, even try to look at the platform,
304
:the, the programmatic platform that
we had and figure out and try to
305
:design something that it could become
much more friendly web-based, uh,
306
:web API based stuff as an example.
307
:Um, more accessible people might be
able to see, someday, see RRP C as, as
308
:in an open source format and be able
to use Python and other languages to
309
:be able to use our platform in general.
310
:And so not just, you know, I wasn't,
I'm not just looking or haven't been
311
:just looking at the content as being
democratized, but also the technology
312
:that wraps around everything we're doing.
313
:And part of our journey
was at the beginning was we
314
:had to take RPC technology.
315
:From what used to be Avision called
Avision Dashboard, which was a content
316
:manager specifically designed for
delivering RPCs from the cloud to
317
:users before cloud was cloud probably.
318
:Um, and take that experience and,
uh, keep as much of it intact as
319
:we could and bring it into avail
and integrate our content delivery.
320
:Uh, everything from thumbnails to
the downloads into preview, being
321
:able to preview the models, all that.
322
:We had to build a bunch of different
technologies around our APIs and
323
:start to democratize the c plus
plus stuff into other languages so
324
:that, uh, we could talk with a veil.
325
:Right.
326
:And that started the, the really the,
in my mind, that's where we started to
327
:have to, Build the foundation of fovea
before fovea was fovea, if you will.
328
:Um, so the data flow, the, uh, not
just the geometry, not just the
329
:textures, but there was meta, there's
metadata involved with all this stuff.
330
:There's special GUID's around
the a, the assets so that we can
331
:track them and understand where
they're going and things like that.
332
:So ultimately, there's a lot of
engineering around making this
333
:simple and simpler, not just from
the content consumption and use, but
334
:really, you know, forward thinking.
335
:Let's get a bunch of content creators,
a bunch of main building product
336
:manufacturers, involved with our
APIs and be able to use them to even
337
:translate and, and deliver RPCs of their
own content into Revit and Rhino and
338
:SketchUp and wherever, as opposed to.
339
:The broken process as an example,
Randall, what you're talking about
340
:downloading something from the
manufacturer's site and not getting
341
:the texture maps we can deliver.
342
:And we have the platform now, you know,
underneath the, our ARC vision RPC
343
:technology to be able to deliver single
source of truth assets and give people
344
:simple APIs to access that to, um, to
be able to deliver their own content.
345
:Randall Stevens: Corey, maybe you can,
uh, you wanna share your screen and can
346
:you show what, uh, fovea just ends up
looking like, uh, In the application?
347
:Corey Rubadue: Fovea comes in
three different forms right now.
348
:Um, we've got a web app version,
iOS app, and then this version
349
:here, which is inside of a veil,
which is our latest and greatest.
350
:So what you're looking at
here is, uh, a veil desktop.
351
:Uh, on the right hand side, you'll see
the FOA window here, just sitting here.
352
:And I'm going to just burst on the
scene and do a quick show and tell of
353
:why is this important and what we're
really, what the power of Fovea is.
354
:I can grab a model that's part of
the Fovea publication and literally
355
:just drag and drop it directly
into this Fovea cannabis here
356
:that's embedded inside of a Vail.
357
:And, this, this is mind blowing to me
even in that we're in a content manager
358
:and we're in, an application in a content
manager where we can manipulate 3D data.
359
:I can grab a material
on here and whatever.
360
:Let's just say we wanted that to be
black and I can change some of the
361
:other material parameters in here.
362
:So we've got the full material editing
capability for the asset right here,
363
:and I can make that maybe more shiny
and do a couple operations there.
364
:And And then very simply,
there's a published button.
365
:I can give this a name, and this is
where I start to put some metadata on
366
:this, uh, asset chair, whatever, uh,
give it a furniture category, how to
367
:tag, and, um, let's just say, uh, modern
as an example, enter, and I won't get
368
:in the weeds on this at just at this
very moment, but this is what we were
369
:talking about earlier, um, where the
RPC has a, uh, proxy representation.
370
:And as part of the publishing process,
you've got, you have the opportunity to
371
:choose different, um, proxy mesh, uh,
meth methods and what the representation
372
:will be in your CAD package.
373
:Uh, you can even do some, uh.
374
:Down sampling of textures and mesh
simplification and optimization here.
375
:So if we know this asset's going to end
up in scape or something like that, and we
376
:need to do some decimation on this, uh, we
can, let's say, make this, uh, uh, target
377
:mesh count down to 63, uh, hundred and
changed triangles, and I can hit publish.
378
:Um, so we're grabbing this in this
3D data, the instructions behind
379
:it, sending it up to our cloud
services, through our APIs, um, and
380
:publishing that piece of content.
381
:And, what's great about the integration
that we have with avail is that
382
:piece of content's going up into the
cloud, processing, metadata's being
383
:stored, and at the com point that the
processing is completed in our, in our.
384
:Um, in our web services, we'll now push
and synchronize that piece of content
385
:directly into, um, this, this Fovea
channel that's sitting here in avail.
386
:So I am not just making content
and editing a, creating content
387
:in avail through the fovea lens.
388
:I'm actually also putting it
in a managed state right away.
389
:Okay?
390
:So what's important about that is,
okay, if I built the asset, uh, maybe
391
:from my web browser and I downloaded
it to my C Drive, does anybody else in
392
:your company have access to that asset?
393
:Maybe if you save that from your
c drive to a network, drive a
394
:network location, a shared location
that everybody has access to.
395
:But in this case we're, you know, we
were very, very focused on, again, ease
396
:of use and trying to make sure that.
397
:This content is, is, in a managed state
for users to be able to just not even
398
:have to think about it's, it's here.
399
:They can search for it.
400
:They can just drag and drop
it into Revit and go, period.
401
:Randall Stevens: you were
talking about the avail and, and
402
:talking about these as lenses.
403
:Um, on the avail platform, we have
a plugin architecture to avail.
404
:That's allowing third parties like
Avision to build on top of the avail
405
:as a content management platform.
406
:And we call it our plugins lenses.
407
:So when he talks about fovea as
a lens, it's a plugin inside.
408
:So it's, it's a provision's technology
that's running, you know, on top of
409
:this core content management platform,
which allows them to, allows our vision
410
:to concentrate on this high value
added capabilities without having to go
411
:rebuild over and over again a, you know,
core content management capabilities.
412
:So as those assets are being published,
they're coming right back into the
413
:core application, tagged, managed,
ready to go, uh, as opposed to being
414
:downloaded from another service, then
having to be reorganized somewhere
415
:is kind of all one stop shop.
416
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah.
417
:And, and.
418
:Just to point out that this, um,
our first kind of step into this was
419
:actually being able to build a, a,
a, model viewer, a previewer, if you
420
:will, that got embedded inside of
avail, uh, early, pretty early on.
421
:And so, people want to see what they're
going to drag and drop into Revit,
422
:a Rhino or SketchUp, beforehand.
423
:and so you can select, you know, pieces
of content and preview that model
424
:in our little preview window here.
425
:And that, that actual canvas here is the
backbone of what we're using in fovea.
426
:So this is the same 3D
canvas that we have.
427
:Uh, in fovea, just minus, you know,
the interface, uh, for controlling the
428
:finer details of, uh, of publishing
and, and so on and so forth.
429
:So this was our, our first step
into building and integrating some
430
:technology into avail, um, before
we jumped into the FOIA realm of
431
:being able to now edit this content.
432
:I'll zoom back out here real quick.
433
:Just to go back to the, kind of bigger
picture of what's, what's, what's getting
434
:produced, what's FOIA really, you know,
doing and why, and so on and so forth.
435
:So when I published that
chair, and it goes up into
436
:our cloud, we're spinning off.
437
:Um, a bunch of different
file formats out of this.
438
:Yes, we make the RPC and
we make the RPC first.
439
:That file form, that single
source of truth fi file format
440
:is our, you know, first stop.
441
:The next stop along the way is we,
um, we actually rely a lot on uh,
442
:GLTF to transport, and help us,
migrate data, uh, into some of these
443
:other file formats that you see.
444
:But we have, uh, direct jobs, uh, behind
the scenes where we're taking the RPC and
445
:we're getting RPC to GLTF and RPC to data
Smith and RPC, to, uh, FBX and, and USD
446
:and Pure Landscape Asset, for instance,
or, um, RA VA steam file as an example.
447
:So all of these file formats and
file types are spun out of the single
448
:source of truth of what the RPC is.
449
:Um, we specifically and kind of touch
on what Randall was saying earlier,
450
:like RPC contains the richest form of
data, uh, and information and, uh, uh,
451
:textures and all that, geometry and
textures and all that inside of that RPC.
452
:And now we can take and repurpose
any of that information into these
453
:different file formats through
our, through our API basically.
454
:So that's what fovea is doing.
455
:It ultimately it'll, it, it's
just spill spits out a bunch
456
:of different file formats.
457
:And this is, you know, a departure from
RPC in, in the main kind of way of looking
458
:at it, which was we really, we could have
just kept building RPCs, and relying on
459
:our c plus plus APIs to have partners.
460
:Build plugins or
integrations with RPC files.
461
:Um, but really we started to lean on
this idea of this proxy as, uh, sorry,
462
:RPC as a proxy for a future transaction.
463
:And so the way we see this is an RPC
may come into an application like
464
:twin Motion, and when it comes into
twin motion, it may come in as just
465
:the, the billboard representation.
466
:That was the preview that you
saw inside of your Revit file.
467
:Um, but what's slick about what, uh, what
we've done is literally with a, find
468
:and replace, we can grab a data smith
version of that same asset and swap it
469
:out in twin motion so that you get apples
to apples, the same car person tree, or
470
:whatever the asset was that you placed
in Revit and that you might have been
471
:rendering with scape or V-Ray in Revit.
472
:Um, if your team happened to switch
over to use Twin Motion and they, they
473
:would get with a little bit of, you
know, workflow involved, they would
474
:be able to get the same apples to
apples, the same car, the same trees,
475
:the same people coming out with the
same materials, as, as the folks were
476
:getting on the Vray render team inside of
477
:Revit
478
:Randall Stevens: maybe you can dig
479
:into that a little bit more, Corey,
you know, just the, uh, the, the
480
:reality that inside of a lot of firms,
the workflows, the, the modeling
481
:workflows from design to visualization.
482
:And back, right, back and forth.
483
:It's not always a linear process and
everybody's going back and forth that,
484
:um, you know, just how that understanding
drove the need to then have these
485
:different, um, representations of the
same thing kind of readily available.
486
:Evan Troxel: and maybe before you jump
in, Corey, I mean this is something that's
487
:come up on, on TRXL podcast many times
and I, I just saw Ian Keough of Hypar
488
:tweet this same exact sentiment, which
is like, we used to use design software
489
:to document decisions that had been made.
490
:Now we're using them to make
decisions along the way because
491
:things are happening in real time.
492
:And to Randall's point here, it's
like you're, you're looking at
493
:the design in scape in real time
or in twin motion in real time.
494
:You're visualizing what you're draw
what you're modeling and drawing and
495
:the ramifications of those things
spatially in all the different ways.
496
:How, how it makes you feel, how
you emotionally react to it.
497
:And it drives the design.
498
:It's not like the end
of the process anymore.
499
:Right.
500
:So like, just to reinforce what
Randall's saying, like I, I'm
501
:seeing this, these tools are now
moving way earlier in the pipeline.
502
:They're not just the end
of the sentence anymore.
503
:They're are the end of the phase
right there, there is this feedback
504
:loop that is, that is happening.
505
:And so these things need
to be all bi-directional.
506
:Corey Rubadue: Absolutely.
507
:Yeah.
508
:And so, you know, my, my
early days of working in, at
509
:this point it was at Air St.
510
:Gross Architects and
Planners in Baltimore.
511
:And being in the middle of the
studio there, um, servicing
512
:all different departments from
interiors, landscape designers, and,
513
:and, you know, building studios.
514
:we had to get information from the
design teams and designers into a place,
515
:uh, in our case, it was, at that time
it was, it was three Studio Max and.
516
:Produce a visuals, but also at the end
of it, be able to translate what we put
517
:in the visuals back to the design teams.
518
:So the design teams could document
what, what we put in the visuals.
519
:Right.
520
:And, that still exists today.
521
:I mean, this is still happening and
Scape does a great job, but this for
522
:folks nowadays where they can design
and visualize at the same time and they
523
:can have things consistent and they're,
it's kind of, you know, not as, uh,
524
:disjointed of a process as the older,
traditional, you know, design model or,
525
:um, design documentation to a 3D modeler
specialized in max producing something.
526
:And then the design team interacting
with what was going on in the
527
:visualization development and Max.
528
:And then trying to, again,
what do you do with it?
529
:How do you get that information back?
530
:So.
531
:My, you know, my sentiment behind RPC
and, and want, what really drove me to
532
:take the bull by the horns on RRP C is we
can, we can make this just this connection
533
:between the asset and the design world,
the asset in the visualization world, and
534
:hopefully someday be able to make that
connection back from the visualization
535
:world back into the design world.
536
:So an RPC in twin motion, or maybe let's
say even further down the line in the
537
:Epic Stream, uh, maybe you're in, uh,
unreal Engine and, and with our Unreal,
538
:uh, plugin RPC plugin for Unreal Engine
placing RPCs in inside of Unreal Engine
539
:and, uh, ultimately be able to translate.
540
:Back to the design team, back
to the folks that are in Revit
541
:or Rhino or SketchUp or multiple
applications, you know, designing.
542
:Um, which happens as we know.
543
:Um, if I need to get, or what I
ideally will happen is you'll be able
544
:to synchronize the RPCs that were
placed inside of Unreal Engine with
545
:the Revit model or the Rhino model
or the SketchUp model, for instance.
546
:All through, you know, our connections,
either APIs, um, or plugins or avail.
547
:I mean, we'll be able to really hopefully
bring this, yes, bi-directional, but
548
:interactive,
549
:Randall Stevens: Uh,
Corey, I'll just jump in.
550
:One of the favorite examples that, uh,
that I know that you've been working on
551
:with some, some companies kind of closely.
552
:Um, as an example, you'll have a design
team working in Revit on, uh, the ar
553
:I'll just call it the architectural
components, but you might have a landscape
554
:design team working primarily in Rhino,
completely separate design application.
555
:Those.
556
:Those models have to come together, right?
557
:Uh, to be visualized and
vice, you know, vice versa.
558
:The, the, the people working in
Revit wanna see the building in
559
:context with the landscape and then
the landscape firm, terraforming and
560
:entourage, and anything else that
might be going on on that front might
561
:be primarily being driven outta Rhino.
562
:Need to be able to see the context
of the building in that context.
563
:part of what I've seen Corey and the team
being able to do is to show that, hey,
564
:you can, you can take the entire Revit
project, right, no matter what scale, and
565
:shove that into, say, an RPC file format.
566
:Most people think about it as just a
chair or, or a single element, but you can
567
:take the entire building and its textures
and materials into one file format
568
:that then knows how to render in Rhino.
569
:Well now you get one proxy object
that represents the building over
570
:in Rhino that the, uh, landscape
team right is able to see.
571
:And when they hit render, it flows into
the rendering engines and they can see it.
572
:So, uh, maybe I'm stealing the thunder,
but Corey, maybe you can talk just a
573
:little bit more because those are very
powerful, complex things where those teams
574
:are respectively working with each other,
but that stuff needs to come together
575
:and be visualized all along the way.
576
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah, I mean the,
the, big, one of the bigger
577
:projects that I worked on, uh,
back in the day was really heavily
578
:reliant on being able to aggregate.
579
:different data sets into one master
file and, um, be able to produce
580
:a animation or a video or a film
of, of, you know, 10 30 buildings
581
:in a urban context as an example.
582
:And those workflows that we went
through back then were very similar
583
:to what we were kind of being able
to do now with, with the RPC, which
584
:is create a proxy, create a, a
container file, bring those proxies
585
:into the container file hit render.
586
:And voila, you've got proxies from
an outside source into the container
587
:file, which is maybe in, like you said,
rhino, or it could be in SketchUp.
588
:And you pretty quickly can get, uh, all,
all these data sets in and, literally
589
:back out, in, in a very fluid way.
590
:Evan Troxel: I had no idea that you
could shove an entire project into an
591
:Randall Stevens: You got to, we'll
have to show you Evan, um, you
592
:know, that we're, uh, some of this
is some of the, uh, fovea app has
593
:integrated, um, AR capabilities into it.
594
:So
595
:I'm telling you, it's pretty slick.
596
:You can take, I can be in Revit and I
can, I can hit a button, I can click
597
:one button, shove an entire project.
598
:I did it with this new
sample project, right?
599
:That, uh,
600
:that, that Harlan, uh, you know,
that we did the podcast with earlier.
601
:Literally
602
:within a minute you've got that entire
project shoved through fovea and I could
603
:pull it up on my app and pull it up in ar.
604
:And walk
605
:through it at full scale, like
in the back parking lot and be
606
:walking around inside that building.
607
:And, um, it's, yeah, you can, you, you
can shove individual objects or entire
608
:projects through this pipeline and
it, uh, and it all works seamlessly.
609
:Evan Troxel: It's a paradigm shift
because I mean, we've always known RPC
610
:to be these objects in the scene, right?
611
:And so you're basically talking about
changing users' mindsets here too,
612
:about what RPC can do and what it's
used for and the different use cases.
613
:And so as a developer, those are the
kinds of things I assume you're also
614
:thinking about when it comes to how you
market this and talk about it and reset
615
:expectations around something much bigger
than anybody is kind of coming at it.
616
:Just expecting it to be the next
small iteration on something that's
617
:been around for quite a long time.
618
:This episode is made possible
with support from Chaos-Enscape.
619
:This is the perfect time
to set good intentions and
620
:resolutions for the months ahead.
621
:Whether you aim to solve your design
challenges faster, run your projects
622
:more smoothly, make quicker decisions,
or share immersive walkthroughs with
623
:the click of a button, here's some good
news: you won't need any resolutions.
624
:Chaos Enscape has the
best 3d workflow solution.
625
:Chaos Enscape is the industry leading
real-time visualization plugin that is
626
:100% fast, 100% easy, and fully integrated
into your favorite design tools.
627
:It is the trusted choice of over 500,000
monthly users across 150 countries.
628
:Starting today, you can get a 20% discount
on fixed and floating annual licenses.
629
:Just head to Chaos-Enscape.com
and use code RES24 at checkout.
630
:That's Chaos-Enscape.com using
code RES24 at checkout to
631
:supercharge your design workflow.
632
:Thanks to Chaos Enscape so much
for their support of this episode.
633
:And now let's get back
to the conversation.
634
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah, so this is
for instance, that's the, um,
635
:the Snowden Towers projects,
636
:Evan Troxel: and
637
:Nice.
638
:Corey Rubadue: this is, now we're not
trying to visualize and render something.
639
:This is the asset, right?
640
:So now we can take this as an RPC, whether
it's, um, a bounding box of this or, um,
641
:a simplified mesh or the old billboard
file style, uh, sorry, style of RPC.
642
:We can, drag and drop this
inside of Revit and start, or
643
:sorry, rhino, the source's Revit.
644
:Bring this into Rhino or a SketchUp
and start, you know, designing
645
:a new building on that parking
646
:lot right there.
647
:Evan Troxel: mm
648
:mm
649
:Randall Stevens: Or, or, you know,
650
:just to emphasis on the,
the fovea that could be.
651
:That very same source model that started
in Revit with all the materials and
652
:textures can now be available in USD or
brought into Data Smith right into one
653
:of the game engines or somewhere else.
654
:So, and, uh,
655
:but there's a connection between
all of those so you can kind of
656
:bidirectionally, you know, get back
to the right data format that you want
657
:right in, in whatever application that
you're wanting to, you know, work in.
658
:Evan Troxel: So does this become
a link that, that design teams,
659
:we all know you guys have been
in visualization forever, right?
660
:That the design doesn't stop, right?
661
:When you send the model to
the visualizing guys, that,
662
:that's just the latest version.
663
:It's not the, it's not the
the where it's gonna end.
664
:And, and is there a way to, to
that this kind of helps solve that
665
:problem, which is like, no, I really
need your final model on Tuesday.
666
:That's the last day that I
can accept your final model.
667
:Does this give people the ability
to kind of continually work up
668
:to that deadline in, in less of a
export, import kind of a manner?
669
:Corey Rubadue: Uh, it still,
still will be an update, kind
670
:of, kind of a workflow, right?
671
:I mean, someone can write out the
new, the final version of that.
672
:I.
673
:Building or design and, uh, the, the
user in RiNo or SketchUp or whatever
674
:would have to update that RPC and,
and that data set inside of that
675
:application.
676
:So there is, there is still a, you know,
a, some workflow involved, but we're not
677
:talking about, you know, having to redo
all the materials and rebuild all the, you
678
:know, the lighting and so on and so forth.
679
:gets brought in with the RPC is what
was, where the project was left off
680
:and, and say Revit in this
681
:Randall Stevens: But I let, let me just in
682
:let me inject Corey, just
so to make sure, but yes, it
683
:requires a human to do it, but it's,
I can tell you, uh, you know, having
684
:used it in Revit, it's one button
click and you're, and that's it.
685
:It's like in, in,
686
:in 60 seconds, the thing
687
:is out there and able to be
consumed on the other end.
688
:What I'll say about, you know, what
ARC Fission's working with, avail
689
:on part of a veil's platform is, you
know, now that's a piece of content.
690
:Well, now imagine that the, that,
that, that piece of content is in
691
:an application, rhino or Revit.
692
:Part of what
693
:avails working on is the ability,
when something has been updated,
694
:the content gets updated.
695
:Can it either push a notification
that to the user, Hey,
696
:there's a new version of this
697
:available.
698
:Do you want to update it?
699
:Uh, so now you can imagine these
bi-directional workflows where different
700
:people working on different parts, and
you want that stuff to come together.
701
:We're doing that from the
standpoint of thinking about like
702
:a manufacturer updates a piece of
703
:information and you want to send,
you know, you want that to be,
704
:um, people who are using that
piece of content to know that
705
:there's an updated version of it.
706
:But I also think that it's laying
the groundwork for that, you know,
707
:you could be on a nightly basis,
you know, publishing the updated
708
:version of the Revit model for the
day, and then as everybody comes
709
:into work the next day, they're receiving
the next updated version and, you
710
:know, moving along with their work.
711
:So it's not, you know, the,
the, the, the framework's there.
712
:Right now, people are manually kind
of pushing these things, but the,
713
:the groundwork's being laid for this
to be automated in, in new ways.
714
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah, and I mean, I can
use an example right now, actually,
715
:two in particular, um, NVIDIA's
Omniverse platform as an example.
716
:It's been kind of a, a great testing bed
for us and, and we we're gonna, we'll
717
:be talking more about this in the next
few months, but, it what that platform
718
:has allowed us to do, because it's
open developmentally and we can develop
719
:a lot around our current APIs and.
720
:Do a lot of things that we can't
do in Revit specifically, or Rhino
721
:specifically, or whatever, because
those applications might have a limit
722
:limitations on APIs and how geometry and
information comes into those applications.
723
:So in the case of Omniverse, for instance,
uh, we have, uh, asset store plugin that
724
:we built for omniverse, and it's really
designed to be a, uh, number one, an
725
:authentication source, uh, to be able
to allow, uh, a provision subscriber
726
:to log in, authenticate themselves
inside of that platform, and then
727
:allow them to, download their assets,
which they might make through fovea
728
:or through our subscription content.
729
:but what's going on is, in, in Omniverse.
730
:If somebody brings in a Revit file
and there's an RPC in it, uh, that
731
:what we get inside of Omniverse is
the, again, a proxy object that's
732
:transferred from Revit, the Revit
file into the Invi Omniverse platform.
733
:We can literally, again, select that
asset and request via API to swap out that
734
:asset with its twin in USD file format.
735
:So it's a targeted file format for a
targeted use case in, in that application.
736
:Uh, but it's it's center point reference.
737
:Center reference point is
the RPC and the RPC Goid.
738
:Right.
739
:That's really making that connection.
740
:Right.
741
:Um, and then even now.
742
:Literally we have a development
progress meeting this afternoon.
743
:I'll show demo this integration that
we're working on with Blender, which
744
:again, open source, uh, platform and
able, super easy for us to get around,
745
:uh, programmatically and build tools
around and communicate with our API
746
:with blender's, API and literally take,
a Revit project building project like
747
:Snowden here and get it into blender
and two, two clicks and a drag and drop.
748
:Randall Stevens: I
749
:don't know if you did
it, but maybe you can
750
:open up the preview panel and just
show that, that, you know, full
751
:model is able to be rendered, right?
752
:Even just in the web, in the
web render, but it's full.
753
:The entire project right, is in there
with all of its glory materials, textures.
754
:It is back to that, like you
755
:don't have Elvis dangling
information that you're gonna lose.
756
:So, uh, you know, for especially
through these visualization flows, it's,
757
:uh.
758
:Corey Rubadue: So yeah, so just so I'm
selecting, you know, one of the exports,
759
:if you will, or one of the translations
into RPC of the Snowden project.
760
:And there it is in its full
glory, this full data set,
761
:Evan Troxel: I mean, that's the biggest
problem with file formats, right?
762
:Is there, there's inherent data loss.
763
:Uh, and there's also just kind of
you, loss of life of brain cells every
764
:time somebody has to open one of these
FBX or OBJ or DAE dialogue boxes and
765
:figure out which boxes to check or not
check and, and to push these updates
766
:and to export and to import and to
switch the axes and flip this and that.
767
:And what you're saying here is like,
we solved all that and, and we've
768
:actually made it like Randall, you
said one button export from Revit.
769
:That's a big deal.
770
:How much time has, would think back to
how much time has been spent in those
771
:dialogue import export dialogue boxes, and
how much data has been lost through those
772
:translation processes over time in the
architectural field alone, it's enormous.
773
:Right?
774
:And, and so this, this
is a big deal actually.
775
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah, I mean, it's
a, it's an ongoing exercise, right?
776
:I mean, we've, we've, constantly have to
evolve the communication of these assets
777
:across these different file formats.
778
:One renderer will treat one
texture map one way and another
779
:render will treat it completely
the opposite way, as an example.
780
:Right?
781
:And we've gotta, we've gotta learn this,
whether learn it through the artistic
782
:means that we have of having to have done
it before or our users doing it daily.
783
:Um, but those are the, like,
the little nuances that we
784
:gotta capture and figure out.
785
:Okay.
786
:How does a, transparency map, translate
differently between vray and n scape or
787
:differently between, um, Revit and Rhino?
788
:Um, we're trying to take all those
complexities out of the equation.
789
:We can't hit everything with, you
know, one silver bullet, but we're,
790
:we're progressing and our APIs are
progressing and the communication
791
:around all that, um, is progressing.
792
:So at the end of the day.
793
:you know, we've got a work cut out for
us still to, to remain agnostic with
794
:the technologies that we're building
so that we're not dependent on a
795
:particular renderer or dependent on
a particular, CAD package or, or 3D
796
:package, but that we can just hopefully
let people share and consume and,
797
:uh, build
798
:Randall Stevens: One of
799
:the things, uh, one of the things Evan,
that I've just been excited about from
800
:a veil standpoint of seeing this evolve
and, and, you know, now making its way
801
:out into the market, is this idea that
inside of, inside of a firm, especially,
802
:you know, a firm of any size, I always
refer to it as like you have people
803
:at the edges of the network, people at
their desk working and building, right?
804
:In the end, those are the, that's
where the, the work's being done.
805
:But the idea that
806
:as as assets or, or things are
created and, and the, the idea
807
:that they can be published
808
:centrally back into the system.
809
:And then democratized right through,
through, Hey, I've made this in Rhino,
810
:but you can consume it in Revit, right?
811
:Immediately, like within
812
:two minutes that
813
:I've pushed this back in.
814
:So I have this.
815
:Um, I think that that's where this can
be at least initially, that people will
816
:see, uh, a lot of the value out of it is,
Hey, we can, as we're creating things,
817
:no matter which of these applications
we're creating them in, if they come
818
:back through this hub and then they're
made available, then for anybody that
819
:wants to now consume those, you're not,
you know, you're not having to rely
820
:on whoever built it to go do something
and try to translate it for you.
821
:It's like, no, this is
automatically being converted.
822
:Not in a dumb way, but in a very
smart, you know, high level way
823
:and keeping the integrity of that
data as it, as it moves around.
824
:So I think there's a lot of value
to be exercised or, or found and
825
:uncovered, uh, just through that,
uh, part of the process as well.
826
:Evan Troxel: I think also one of the
things that this allows, through this
827
:democratization process and through this
kind of single source of truth, but, but
828
:multiple outlets, is that there's a lot
of tools in the toolbox and you wanna be
829
:able to use the right one for the job.
830
:And that doesn't mean you're gonna
use the same tool on every single job.
831
:And it may even mean that there are
different people on the same project using
832
:different tools to do different things.
833
:And it's nice to have the ability to pick
the right tool for the job, but still know
834
:that you can get all your stuff in there.
835
:So if, if you've got a
vis person using max.
836
:With Vray and you've got another person
doing interactive content in Unreal,
837
:and you've got a designer sitting at
their desk using scape for day-to-Day
838
:visualization, you can still easily
get the same content and models to all
839
:of those people in a very simple way.
840
:I mean that, that to me is, there's a
huge potential there to really unify
841
:workflows, but still give choice to the
people who wanna be able to make that
842
:choice of what tool to use for what job.
843
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah, and Evan, I mean,
frankly, you know, having that choice
844
:and being able to open people up to
many choices is one of the catalysts of,
845
:you know, us breaking out of, in this
case, building all every RPC ourselves.
846
:Like originally when this all started,
we were, we were producing every
847
:RPC and that wasn't something that
I wanted to subscribe for and, and
848
:for the company to, to commit to
just creating content constantly.
849
:And so the first, you know, really
the first, you know, steps into
850
:fovea, were like, Hey, wait a minute.
851
:No, let's take our old avision creator
technology that we had and make it,
852
:more accessible, cross platform, cross
device, and let people have choices of
853
:which file formats they want to bring in.
854
:Not just pigeonhole them into
going into three Studio Max
855
:and doing certain workflows and
getting that data out into an RPC.
856
:Like, okay, let's open this
up as much as we possibly can.
857
:If you're a SketchUp subscriber
and you swear by using, um.
858
:3D Warehouse to get your assets,
but, and, and you need to get a
859
:chair from Warehouse into Revit.
860
:It's two clicks from our, our setup.
861
:Grab the file from warehouse, drag
it into fovea, publish it, drag
862
:it from avail back into Revit, and
you've got, that chair from your,
863
:your go-to library directly into
864
:Revit.
865
:Boom.
866
:Done.
867
:So it we're kind of, we try to
keep our blinders off and let
868
:people use any of these options out
there to create their own content.
869
:I don't wanna make content anymore.
870
:So that's, you know, that was
really the one of the catalysts,
871
:right?
872
:Evan Troxel: It makes a lot of
sense because you're, you're almost
873
:definitely not gonna make the
exact content that somebody needs
874
:Randall Stevens: It's in stage five,
which is it's insatiable Right.
875
:Journey,
876
:Corey Rubadue: n never.
877
:Right.
878
:So I, I've got.
879
:This is kind of the latest and
greatest and I'll just show,
880
:um, what we're doing in Blender.
881
:Again, blender, this, you know,
open source platform, easy for us to
882
:develop around, so on and so forth.
883
:So, we've built a publisher
for fovea directly in Blender.
884
:So I'm logged in, uh, I can add a
file name here, so on and so forth.
885
:I'm, I can set up my parameters
just as if I was inside of, uh, veil
886
:and fovea like I showed earlier.
887
:Um, but you know, what I have here is now
if I'm get a scene from my blender guy,
888
:uh, I can do something like I can isolate
the CH chair from that scene, right?
889
:And I can give this a name, chair,
I can give it a category furniture
890
:chair tag, um, podcast as an example.
891
:Again, I can choose my, my, uh, proxy
type, whichever way I want it to bring
892
:in, uh, billboard, published a Fovea.
893
:I'm gonna generate my preview of this.
894
:So I've got a preview, a
thumbnail of the, of this.
895
:So the thumbnail goes along for the ride.
896
:Uh, I'll see this in a veil or wherever
the RPC or any of the file formats go.
897
:And from here I can publish the Fovea.
898
:So again, we're taking this data set,
pushing it up into the, to our services,
899
:running the translations, all that stuff.
900
:I can literally, now, once this is
published, go grab even a dot blend,
901
:file a native blender file that we
are packaging up along for the ride
902
:as the single source of truth for
the original, the original model.
903
:And once this is all done, processing,
I can literally drag and drop
904
:the same, uh, the blender file,
native blender file into blender.
905
:And, Basically 360 degrees.
906
:Uh, I can open up that file in fovea
edit, make edits and hit publish again,
907
:and I'll get another blender file
out and I'll be able to drag and drop
908
:that blender file into, into blender.
909
:So in many cases, let's say full
360 bidirectional workflow, just,
910
:and this is on an asset level, but
we can zoom, we can zoom out, and
911
:we can do this at the, at that room
912
:level
913
:Evan Troxel: So you could theoretically
have somebody who's like a content manager
914
:or a librarian, constantly be monitoring
what's coming into fovea and avail
915
:and making changes in there to kind of
standardize things with certain metadata
916
:or materials or looks or whatever it may
be, and publishing those to a content
917
:library for everybody to use and they
don't have to know Blender as an example.
918
:Corey Rubadue: So, you know, back to back
to avail and what, what people will see.
919
:So the fovea channel is a,
is a plan level channel.
920
:by
921
:design there will
922
:Randall Stevens: You mean?
923
:You mean by that you mean company-wide
We call, we call 'em plans.
924
:Corey Rubadue: Companywide plan.
925
:Sorry.
926
:Yeah, sorry.
927
:Companywide plan.
928
:Yeah.
929
:And, uh, what that means is they'll,
they'll be a, a gatekeeper at the, at,
930
:you know, at the top of this, right?
931
:There's an administrator or
publisher that will have access.
932
:To all of what's coming into Fovea.
933
:And at that point, you know, you
can have folks being able to approve
934
:pieces of content and get that
content, um, in a, in a focused
935
:custom, uh, avail channel, if you will.
936
:Um, so that folks can have their
own firm wide channel that's
937
:absolutely separate from, from Fovea,
938
:even
939
:Randall Stevens: Yeah,
Corey's got, Corey's got
940
:tons of stories.
941
:Ray's told me about.
942
:You know, somebody's
under a tight deadline.
943
:They've got a project, there's an asset
that was available on Turbo Squid or that
944
:they found, you know, somewhere, right?
945
:May, maybe it was even on their
network, but it was in the wrong file.
946
:It was in a different file format
than whatever application they're
947
:working in, but they need it.
948
:So for them to be able to figure
out how to get that content that
949
:they know is right here in hand
into the right form, right, is very
950
:frustrating, time consuming, and, and
951
:ultimately expensive process.
952
:So I think
953
:there's just a ton of, you know, of, of
real un, you know, uncovering all this
954
:value in, Hey, you can just now drop that.
955
:I don't even have to know
anything about Blender.
956
:All I have to know is that this
FOIA application knows what to do
957
:with it, and then boom, here it is.
958
:I can now
959
:bring that into Inscape, or I can bring
that into Revit or some other place and
960
:leverage it immediately is very powerful.
961
:Corey Rubadue: Yeah.
962
:Evan Troxel: Again, just how much
time that could potentially save,
963
:because that is an iterative process
of, uh, trial by fire, right?
964
:Which is like, okay, we're gonna import
it and see what didn't work, and we're
965
:gonna go back and we're gonna check some
different boxes and we're gonna try again.
966
:And okay, I, I have to learn how
to use this because I don't use
967
:blender and I'm, I'm used to 3D
Studio Max or whatever it is.
968
:And that is, like you said, it's
an expensive proposition because
969
:you're paying staff by the hour or
whatever, and what a pain, like, it's
970
:not gonna work right the first time.
971
:It never works right the first time
unless you're an expert in that particular
972
:file format translation process.
973
:So, uh, taking all the guesswork
outta that is, I think there's,
974
:that's the kind of thing that.
975
:It's hard to explain that because firms
don't necessarily, although they bill by
976
:the hour and they sell time for money,
they don't necessarily value their own
977
:time in the ways that we're talking about
here because it's just, that's how it is.
978
:Right.
979
:Everybody just expects that's how it is
and when you can actually show that, okay,
980
:we, we took this thing that normally takes
like literally 40 minutes for somebody
981
:to figure out how to do it right the
first time because they don't use the
982
:application every day and X, y, and Z
reasons, and we made it take 20 seconds.
983
:Like that is, that's in,
that's a big deal inside of a
984
:Randall Stevens: Yeah.
985
:Now multiply that by however many,
anyway, the, the bigger the firm.
986
:How many times
987
:is that happening across
or across the year?
988
:Evan Troxel: Right,
989
:Corey Rubadue: can tell you guys,
you know, I just got off a call.
990
:And, um, the, the gentleman's trying to
get assets that he scanned with his iPhone
991
:from Poly cam into his Revit project.
992
:And, you know, I got him access
to our iOS app beta and just did a
993
:15 minute tour of how things work.
994
:Dragon dropped an RPC of a poly CAM
scan from avail directly into Revit.
995
:And, um, I, I, he, I mean,
honestly he couldn't believe
996
:that it was that, that easy.
997
:Um, it was, but it, I also couldn't
believe like how well the scan data was
998
:coming in, uh, that he had captured with
poly cam and how powerful Poly Cam was.
999
:So I'm sitting there thinking to
myself, you know, we zoomed out
:
01:04:08,073 --> 01:04:11,253
before, well before we made the iOS
app, and made a decision that we
:
01:04:11,253 --> 01:04:15,993
weren't going to get in the business
of making a a iOS scanner app.
:
01:04:16,563 --> 01:04:20,403
And that what we wanted to do was
actually embrace as many of the
:
01:04:20,403 --> 01:04:24,963
scanning apps as we possibly could in
the file formats that they deliver so
:
01:04:24,963 --> 01:04:31,383
that you can get those assets up into
fovea and into Revit, rhino, SketchUp
:
01:04:31,383 --> 01:04:33,063
or wherever as quickly as possible.
:
01:04:33,993 --> 01:04:39,573
And, you know, he happened to be a poly
cam user who's had a bunch of scans and
:
01:04:39,573 --> 01:04:45,423
he's like, I need these, this bike scan,
this bike, I want this bike in, in Rev.
:
01:04:45,423 --> 01:04:45,513
It.
:
01:04:45,987 --> 01:04:51,149
so the processing time, was probably
the, you know, the longest part
:
01:04:51,149 --> 01:04:55,739
or the most built up anticipation
and you're like, okay, well,
:
01:04:55,769 --> 01:04:56,939
well, when's it gonna get here?
:
01:04:56,939 --> 01:05:04,230
So, Once it got produced and the drag and
drop happened, he, his eyes just lit up.
:
01:05:04,230 --> 01:05:04,529
It was
:
01:05:04,620 --> 01:05:05,220
pretty awesome.
:
01:05:05,960 --> 01:05:08,055
Evan Troxel: so is that
throwing an RFA into Revit?
:
01:05:08,055 --> 01:05:08,715
Is it a family
:
01:05:08,940 --> 01:05:13,500
Corey Rubadue: So, well, technically
speaking, um, when you drag and drop
:
01:05:13,500 --> 01:05:16,110
the RPC into Revit, we build an RFA
:
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:17,120
Evan Troxel: Hmm.
:
01:05:17,130 --> 01:05:20,131
Corey Rubadue: behind the scenes
that contains the, the link, if
:
01:05:20,131 --> 01:05:22,771
you will, to the, to the RPC.
:
01:05:23,581 --> 01:05:25,861
Um, so there's, there's an RFA involved.
:
01:05:25,866 --> 01:05:26,701
Yeah, we create it
:
01:05:27,438 --> 01:05:33,048
when we create that family, we
take metadata from the asset,
:
01:05:33,048 --> 01:05:37,518
so the tags and category of
the asset and things like that.
:
01:05:37,523 --> 01:05:43,308
And we actually try to put out as much
of that into the family as we can.
:
01:05:43,308 --> 01:05:48,078
And if it's a furniture piece as an
example, we make sure that, that the.
:
01:05:48,563 --> 01:05:54,018
FRFA that gets made is actually a Revit
family, a furniture family, and not just
:
01:05:54,018 --> 01:05:56,688
a g you know, generic, um, entourage
:
01:05:56,808 --> 01:05:57,468
family as an
:
01:05:57,468 --> 01:05:58,008
example.
:
01:05:58,278 --> 01:06:01,398
So we try to, try to do that.
:
01:06:01,398 --> 01:06:04,698
we can't do that for every Revit
category 'cause of the way things
:
01:06:04,703 --> 01:06:05,988
are in Revit at the moment.
:
01:06:05,988 --> 01:06:10,105
But, I know in the future we'll be
able to do something pretty slick, um,
:
01:06:10,255 --> 01:06:15,175
around that, uh, to be able to keep,
keep these, uh, these assets pushed into
:
01:06:15,175 --> 01:06:17,035
the right Revit category as an example.
:
01:06:17,820 --> 01:06:18,040
Oh.
:
01:06:18,485 --> 01:06:23,298
Evan Troxel: did a poly cam scan
and brought that model into rhino.
:
01:06:24,198 --> 01:06:28,338
And even then, it was the first
time I've done it and it, because
:
01:06:28,338 --> 01:06:32,568
I I Black Friday dealed the poly
cam for a year this last year.
:
01:06:32,658 --> 01:06:32,898
Right.
:
01:06:33,138 --> 01:06:34,338
And I, I wanted to play with it.
:
01:06:34,788 --> 01:06:39,228
And so I did a room scan model and
brought that into Rhino and just
:
01:06:39,228 --> 01:06:42,408
getting the scale right and everything
is still, it's still an issue, right?
:
01:06:42,408 --> 01:06:46,398
Like just getting stuff to show up,
how you expect it to just show up
:
01:06:46,458 --> 01:06:49,428
immediately is not how it actually works.
:
01:06:49,668 --> 01:06:54,228
You still need to know about the
translation and the, and which boxes
:
01:06:54,228 --> 01:06:58,098
to check and which scale to apply and
what, what units are you working in, in
:
01:06:58,098 --> 01:07:01,158
poly camm and what units are you working
in, in Rhino and all those things.
:
01:07:01,518 --> 01:07:05,928
And to make it easy is, it's a,
again, I just keep going back to this.
:
01:07:05,928 --> 01:07:06,528
It's a big deal.
:
01:07:06,533 --> 01:07:09,318
It saves so much time to just
have it work right the first time.
:
01:07:09,318 --> 01:07:11,148
That, that it's incredibly valuable.
:
01:07:11,253 --> 01:07:13,758
Corey Rubadue: Yeah, and we, I mean,
we take some of that, a lot of that
:
01:07:13,758 --> 01:07:15,294
guessing outta the equation, right?
:
01:07:15,294 --> 01:07:20,784
that poly camm scan comes in and we
in fovea, um, I mean, I can show this.
:
01:07:21,314 --> 01:07:22,604
here's, the chair, right?
:
01:07:22,604 --> 01:07:26,894
So there's that chair coming
in from, from blender.
:
01:07:26,954 --> 01:07:28,064
Uh, I can preview it.
:
01:07:28,274 --> 01:07:28,574
Um.
:
01:07:30,130 --> 01:07:32,350
That's not a slouch of a model either.
:
01:07:32,350 --> 01:07:38,350
I didn't do any decimation or, uh,
optimization of that geometry at all.
:
01:07:38,350 --> 01:07:43,360
So it, it's, you know, there's blanket
there, it's been deformed in, in the
:
01:07:43,540 --> 01:07:46,810
application, the pillow, the wrinkles,
all that, all that defamation.
:
01:07:46,810 --> 01:07:50,590
I mean, it comes at a
cost polygon triangles.
:
01:07:50,590 --> 01:07:54,452
Um, but again, we can decimate
that, um, to some degree.
:
01:07:54,512 --> 01:08:00,632
Uh, not, you know, we don't have
amazing, uh, decimation tools, um, that
:
01:08:00,632 --> 01:08:02,492
can completely rebuild all the meshes.
:
01:08:02,492 --> 01:08:06,302
But, um, but yeah, this
is, that's a chair.
:
01:08:07,232 --> 01:08:07,522
Evan Troxel: Nice.
:
01:08:07,772 --> 01:08:10,292
Corey Rubadue: And again, this is
ready to just drag and drop and
:
01:08:11,792 --> 01:08:12,302
Rhino
:
01:08:12,452 --> 01:08:12,721
Randall Stevens: So in
:
01:08:12,721 --> 01:08:17,011
that amount of time, right, you went
from, you know, maybe one format, native
:
01:08:17,011 --> 01:08:24,362
format that was completely unavailable to
you, to, I can now drop this into any of
:
01:08:24,542 --> 01:08:26,252
the applications that I'm used to using.
:
01:08:26,252 --> 01:08:26,312
So
:
01:08:27,607 --> 01:08:27,797
Corey Rubadue: Yep.
:
01:08:27,807 --> 01:08:30,482
Evan Troxel: when, when you're
publishing it from Blender in this
:
01:08:30,482 --> 01:08:36,002
case and you ingest it, fovea, fovea
is making all those other versions
:
01:08:36,006 --> 01:08:37,772
of the, the, that you showed earlier.
:
01:08:37,772 --> 01:08:43,502
So the GLTF and the the RPC and,
and all those different versions.
:
01:08:43,502 --> 01:08:44,551
Randall Stevens: all that, all that
:
01:08:44,551 --> 01:08:45,152
concurrently,
:
01:08:45,307 --> 01:08:47,551
Evan Troxel: then that's all, all
that work is done and then all I
:
01:08:47,551 --> 01:08:50,582
have to do is pick what, where I
want to send it to and it's, it's
:
01:08:50,672 --> 01:08:51,752
Randall Stevens: All 13 of those,
:
01:08:51,872 --> 01:08:54,182
all 13 of those formats
are available immediately.
:
01:08:54,301 --> 01:08:54,482
Yeah.
:
01:08:54,662 --> 01:08:55,022
Evan Troxel: Okay,
:
01:08:55,697 --> 01:08:55,937
Corey Rubadue: Yep.
:
01:08:56,042 --> 01:08:56,402
Evan Troxel: cool.
:
01:08:56,987 --> 01:09:00,287
Corey Rubadue: So again, if you've
got a blender guide who's great at
:
01:09:00,292 --> 01:09:06,069
modeling and you, your, let's say
visualization is on Unreal Engine.
:
01:09:06,770 --> 01:09:10,100
You can use our RPC plugin, an
Unreal engine, or you can import
:
01:09:10,100 --> 01:09:13,581
in a data Smith file, which is part
of the output as an example, right?
:
01:09:14,371 --> 01:09:14,946
Randall Stevens: That's very
:
01:09:15,140 --> 01:09:18,231
Corey Rubadue: So actually if
I, if I filter down through
:
01:09:18,231 --> 01:09:25,341
here, I by our application, so
application Unreal engine and chair,
:
01:09:26,691 --> 01:09:30,890
um, you know, you can see I've
got a handful of file formats
:
01:09:30,890 --> 01:09:31,791
that are pulled down here.
:
01:09:32,451 --> 01:09:35,961
I've got, uh, FBXO, B, JRPC,
and DA, you Data Smith.
:
01:09:35,961 --> 01:09:38,390
Those are all the file types
that you can import into.
:
01:09:39,411 --> 01:09:41,600
Unreal Engine, outta the box, right?
:
01:09:42,560 --> 01:09:47,571
Um, so we give you the, the, we open
up, we open up and give you choices.
:
01:09:47,906 --> 01:09:50,666
if you wanna bring in an FBX, by
all means, if that's your workflow
:
01:09:50,671 --> 01:09:53,456
and that's the way you prefer to
work, then grab the FBX and go
:
01:09:54,297 --> 01:09:54,567
Randall Stevens: Well, I know
:
01:09:54,567 --> 01:09:57,567
there's a ton more that we can get
into on this, but I think we're
:
01:09:57,567 --> 01:10:03,717
going to, uh, plan on kind of putting
a wrap on this session and then.
:
01:10:04,347 --> 01:10:08,187
Follow up with maybe a deeper dive,
Corey, assuming that you're willing
:
01:10:08,187 --> 01:10:12,627
to, uh, kind of get into a little
bit of the behind the scenes of some
:
01:10:12,632 --> 01:10:15,267
of the, um, some of the decisions.
:
01:10:15,297 --> 01:10:19,647
You know, you started out saying that
even, even where this ended up was
:
01:10:19,647 --> 01:10:24,507
not where you originally, you know,
envisioned and, and the path kind of took,
:
01:10:24,537 --> 01:10:26,637
took you there in, in different ways.
:
01:10:26,637 --> 01:10:31,107
So, uh, maybe we can end up, um, you know,
coming back to this in another session
:
01:10:31,107 --> 01:10:34,497
and digging in a little deeper about what
some of those decision processes were.
:
01:10:35,209 --> 01:10:36,784
Corey Rubadue: Absolutely my pleasure.