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Veras, the AI-Powered Rendering Tool
Episode 1128th February 2024 • Confluence • Evan Troxel & Randall Stevens
00:00:00 01:02:24

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Benjamin Guler of EvolveLab joins the show to talk about Veras, the AI rendering tool for Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, Vectorworks, and most recently Autodesk Forma that is used for creating stunning architectural diffusion-based visualizations. Ben takes us behind the scenes to give us a glimpse into its unique features, its development process, and the team's ambition to further innovate it.

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Transcripts

Evan Troxel:

Ben, welcome to the Confluence podcast.

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It's great to have you.

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And today we're gonna be talking

about Veras and I think a lot of the

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things that have been going on behind

the scenes leading up to and during

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development of Veras, maybe you could

just start off and explain what Veras is.

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And I, you know, I, the stuff

that I see you guys reposting on

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LinkedIn is absolutely incredible.

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It has to make you just like grin

with pride that people are creating

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amazing things with your tools.

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So tell, tell everybody what it

is, if they haven't heard of it, if

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they've been living under a rock,

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uh, and we'll just go from there,

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Benjamin Guler: For sure.

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Yeah.

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So it's gonna be back, uh, or at least

maybe this is the first in this format,

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uh, but yeah, it's gonna be here.

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Yeah.

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So Ves ves is a, I guess render is, is the

way we, you could say, but it's AI render

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and it uses a diffusion based rendering

to take your, model, your geometry and

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diffuse it so that it actually uses.

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Machine learning models to

actually get a rendition for you.

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And it's, the way it does that

is it, it, it de noises the image

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and then it adds noise back and it

essentially takes the way, it adds that

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noise back as per trained material.

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And it uses a prompt to guide

what you want to see in the image.

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So you could have something

like, okay, here's a building.

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Render it during summer or winter,

or, you know, make it a log cabin.

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So those sorts of like ridiculous, you

know, prompts you could put in there.

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And you don't have to be as ridiculous,

but it will actually respect that.

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It will actually try to get,

okay, this part of the building

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looks like it could be that.

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So it's starting to form that way

and then it becomes that it becomes

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a log cabin part of the building.

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So, um, it's, it's a, so it's an

application that's integrated within

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SketchUp, Revit, uh, rhino, we

have a beta version of Vectorworks.

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It also has a standalone and form.

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So we have all those different, uh,

applications that we're extending

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that, you know, in the AC space.

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So,

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yeah.

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Evan Troxel: And, and, and I just

want to throw out there like.

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You

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don't have to model all that stuff to

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get that kind of output.

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Right.

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And that's, to me, where this really

becomes a decision making or ideation kind

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of prototyping tool very much, which is

very different from traditional rendering.

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Right?

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Rendering was, was always like a

later stage, or it was a visualization

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technique a lot of times to use for

communication with clients, with

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pinups in the office, things like that.

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And now it's kind of shifted

the weight of the potential

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of a rendering, quote unquote

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rendering application because

you could feed it a generic piece

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of geometry and it fills in the

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details magically.

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Uh, and just

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as a personal anecdote, I have a model

of a, a house that I was working on as

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an architect and was using Veras to.

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You guys have these

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amazing little presets, right?

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Which are like with Snow and

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Grassy

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Hills and, and just to

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kind of show off because not everybody

necessarily knows what to prompt the first

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time they're gonna prompt this thing.

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So you give them

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a little bit of a shortcut.

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Head start,

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Benjamin Guler: right.

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Evan Troxel: I clicked one

of those buttons and I got to

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see this house in the snow.

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It happens to be a house in the

mountains, I showed it to my

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family and they were blown away.

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Right?

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Just

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blown away.

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And to get back to that, the

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images that I see you

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guys sharing on

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LinkedIn in these various posts,

it's absolutely incredible.

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So people should definitely check out.

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I do You guys have a hashtag that

you try to use to kind of group

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these together on social posting?

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Benjamin Guler: #VerasAI usually,

but a lot of times I search #Veras

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'cause you know, that's easier.

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It's just that one's a very common

one, so you might not get everyth.

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So like #VerasRender, that's another one.

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Randall Stevens: it resonates with me.

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Uh, Ben, I don't know if you know,

but My personal history is I started

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a company called ArchVision years

ago, which was actually in the

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services business doing visualization.

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And what's interesting, I

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think about what you're tapping into

is it was kind of counterintuitive that

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a lot of the earliest stage of where

visualization was wanted or needed was

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actually just to, um, to service the

customer on, for them to go out market,

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raise money, move a project along.

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And of course you want that to be

as photo realistic as possible, and

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that was counterintuitive to the, the

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design process hasn't

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even started.

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So I need, I want Hyperrealism just

to get the project moving along,

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and then it's gonna go to zero and

then some design process starts that

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actually, you know, is the real thing.

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But I, I could imagine that you're, uh,

definitely able to help fill that gap

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in those earliest stages of, we just

need, the customer needs something to go.

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You know, we're not designing.

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We're just

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trying to sell.

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Right.

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Move the

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project along.

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Benjamin Guler: Yeah.

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that, that also reminds me of, or just

back in when I started in this industry

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too, is, uh, I, I had a course and it

was like just drawing with like prisma

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color and markers and pen and actually

just getting renditions of that and

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using all sorts of like different media.

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And you have one render and it's

like hand done and this is it.

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So take this render and, and you know,

you'll won't replicate it the same way.

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And it's just of this perspective.

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And you can have five different

iterations that have a complete

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different color palette.

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It's much more analogous

to that, where it's like.

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On the ideation side, where

we're like, okay, let's just

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look at this and explore ideas.

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And yes, it looks pretty photo realistic

and that is that counterintuitive part

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where it's like people get kinda set

into like, this is, you know, they get

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married to, but it's also very powerful.

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Like it could be that, uh, but yeah,

it's, it's kind of more like that.

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It's like this kind of expert

painter that learned how to paint

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really well, how to fine pixel by

pixel, uh, way where, you know, it

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could produce these, these images.

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And then, uh, Evan, you were talking

about earlier about, uh, how, uh, you

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were kind of using it for like a personal

project and just, uh, testing that out.

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It's funny 'cause um, it bill, uh,

he's in the process of, of, uh,

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purchasing a house, uh, our CEO and,

uh, he was doing the same thing.

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It's like, uh, he's just taking

pictures of the house and looking at

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it like, okay, what I, I want this, uh.

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I know this is kind of dated and

this, you know, the kitchen looks like

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this, but what could it look like?

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So just like, just kind of having, you

know, the whole, you know, the bones

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are there, the skeleton's there, you

know, just changing the finishes of the

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building and he was playing with that and

sharing it with our team, and it's pretty

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fantastic like that you could do that.

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Uh, and yes, it's not replicated where

it's kind like a traditional renderer

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where you kind of, okay, you have the

theme model, you set all your views,

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uh, or your camera and you have your

materials, your lighting and all that.

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And then you could, you know, make

a video out of it, uh, and, and

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start to, you know, it's every,

everything is prescriptive, but you

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have to be that expert and you have

to devote that time to get there.

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It's, it's not reproducible right now.

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It could become there soon.

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We'll see how, how things are working.

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But, um, right now it's kind of really

powerful for the aviation, uh, stage

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where you could just explore ideas and

just kinda see what, what could look good

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and just kinda have that inspiration.

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It's like your like

Pinterest board, right?

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Within your actual project, not,

not just kind of going online to

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find those inspiration images.

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Like what?

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Just take those images and put 'em there.

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So.

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Evan Troxel: I, I find that is a super

useful way to use these kinds of tools,

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which is stop hunting for hours online

for something that it represents what

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you're looking for, and just prompt

what you're looking for and create it.

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Co-create it with these tools.

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Uh, so obviously it's using your guidance

to get there and you will get better

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at prompting it, and it will give you

better results, uh, by doing that.

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Um, but, but you're, you're

learning a new way of working.

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And even for like PowerPoint

presentations, instead of going

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out and looking for imagery

that I, I need for a PowerPoint,

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I will

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use Dolly

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three to do that with prompting

or mid journey, right?

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Because it gives me something unique.

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Number one, it gives me something that

really kind of focuses on what I needed

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to focus on, because it's very difficult

to find stock photography or imagery that

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may be exactly what you're looking for.

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It's a fantastic use for that.

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And now we can do that

with architectural images.

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As a designer myself, I

also want to throw out that.

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Like what Randall was talking about

a minute ago has always been a

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really difficult thing for architects

to deal with on the client side.

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And it's not getting easier, which is, it

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looks done, it looks done,

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done, when you see these images

and clients don't know what it

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takes to get

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there.

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And so

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reverse engineering something that you

may come up with during this ideation

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process into actual architecture

is the skill of an architect.

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And it takes a new conversation

point with a client to get there now.

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And I think, uh, that, that is something

that we're kind of working our way

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through on the

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design side, which is

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how to talk to people about this stuff.

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Because like

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there is your log

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cabin

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in the woods.

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It's Right,

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there, it looks

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done, and it's like, nope.

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Now we actually have to do

everything it takes to turn

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that into actual architecture.

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Um, and we've always

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had this issue on one

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way or another with,

with rendering, right?

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It's like, well, it.

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Like, my wife and I did a project for my

sister-in-Law, and she, like, we had Revit

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floor plans and she thought it was done.

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It's like, we haven't even started.

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And how do you communicate that?

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Because it

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was just space layouts.

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It's

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just adjacencies.

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It's,

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it's like, does this feel right?

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We're trying to figure out if

we're going in the right direction.

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And, and they're thinking

because they don't, they're

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not well versed in this, man.

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It's, it's done.

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Right.

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Can we, let's get

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started on the project.

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And it's like, oh my

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gosh, we have so much work to

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do and this is

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that on steroids.

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And I just

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wanna throw all that

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out because these are the kinds of

conversations that architects are

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having amongst themselves

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on their teams as they're

pinning stuff up on the wall and

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sending images out to clients.

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And, um, I mean, you're, you're

probably getting a lot of heat

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even back, I would imagine, as

a developer of a tool like this.

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Like, you're killing our process

that we've gotten so good at.

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It's com It's changing it, right?

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You're pulling the rug

out from under our feet.

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I

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bet you, you hear all

kinds of weird stuff like

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Benjamin Guler: Yeah.

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Now I, I want to, I wanna touch on that.

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Like, I think it's, I really do

think it's a co-authoring approach,

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regardless, like you talked about

communication with the client.

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Yes.

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That's great.

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Like as architects and as designers,

you can look at an image of a building

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and know the project you're working

on and visualize it in your own

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mind, what you envision that to be.

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Because you've, you're trained and you've

done it so many times that that's kind of

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like, you know, you can read a four plan

and you can understand what the layout is

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with a client.

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Like it's emotional.

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Like you can't depict that, you

know, simply by showing a floor

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plan or like how, how things are.

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If you actually show a, a imagery of that,

like it's, it's kind of the equivalent of.

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Teleporting what, how you are thinking

in something that's, you know, something

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a bit more consumable, something that

could actually be interpreted and,

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and invoke that emotion with a client.

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You can say, okay, from these five

very different ideas, it seems like

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you're gravitating towards this thing.

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And then, okay, what is that

reverse, reverse engineering process?

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I think that process actually is also

creative because you're still kind of

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doing that when you're kind of going

deep into your mind to kind of sculpt

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out or, or, or re you know, re retract

more things that you've learned over

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the past and compose this new project.

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It's kind of similar to that.

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I think that that kind of synergy is

still there, but at least you are kind

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of have a much better communication and

more, uh, connectivity with the client.

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So I think, I think it's a really

kind of, it's not taking away like,

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okay, like now we don't get to render.

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Like I think it's a different process.

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It's actually a hybrid thing

where you're using it even for

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yourself actually as a designer,

you can use it as an inspiration.

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Like, oh, I didn't think of, you

know, that kind of materiality here,

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but okay, how could it really work?

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And then you kind of design and you

build a building and you design the

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building in such a way that you.

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You know, you can

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put

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those pieces of the

puzzle together properly,

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Evan Troxel: Yeah.

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Benjamin Guler: so

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Randall Stevens: maybe,

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uh, maybe Ben, you can take us back

to, uh, just in the development of

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this, when, uh, what's the backstory?

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When did, when did

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it happen?

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Was there a,

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when did the technology,

uh, present itself?

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And then

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ultimately, how did that evolve

into the product that it is and,

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and how did y'all think about that?

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Benjamin Guler: of course.

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Yeah.

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So we, I think in 2022, I believe, uh,

it's when we had like merger mid journey

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V one come out and everyone was super

excited and we saw these kinda like

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painterly, like ghost-like imagery.

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It's like V one, V two.

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And then during that time I

was like very intrigued by it.

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I'm like, oh, this is interesting.

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So I made an account and, and started

to play with that and it was awesome.

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It was very fun.

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And I was using it for, I

think we were working on.

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Glyph at the time, or not

glyph another product.

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And we were trying to come up

with a, come up with a logo.

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So we're like prompting ideas in there.

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It's like, okay, what's

the logo gonna be like?

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So it was a really fun process.

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And then Stable Diffusion came out,

uh, at, at a similar time with, and

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it was, you know, lower quality.

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It was pretty, you know, people

were, but it was exciting 'cause

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it was open source and now a lot

of people could build on that.

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That's what we build up,

that's what we built on too.

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Uh, but back then it was very basic

and it was a lot of different, like

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very poor quality, uh, imagery.

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But then they upgraded to 1.4, 1.5,

and then, uh, I think at one point

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they also added image to image.

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And then like, okay, this is

interesting image to image.

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What can you do with image to image?

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And this is before like, you know,

depths and uh, other kind of models

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came out, uh, or candy models.

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And so what we wanted to just play

out was like, okay, what if we

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get, the idea was just to test.

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What if we get like, uh,

a Revit image that looks.

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Close to realistic, like the materials

are better, you make the lighting better.

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Like what if it's like a close

enough like, like digital image that

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looks kinda like a rendering that's

digital and just a little bit like

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let AI change it ever so slightly.

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What does it look like?

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Will it look better?

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Can it fit?

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You know, correct those edges where

it looks very like digital and just

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make, add that little dirt just to

make it look like, almost like a photo.

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And that's what, you know, before

anything, like all the other models

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came out, we just play with that.

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We had like really cool results.

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Like, wow, this is cool.

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I mean, it still looks

like Rev or whatever.

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'cause we're testing in Rev first, but

it looks better than Rev a little bit,

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it was so bare bone, but that was,

you know, so we already started

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developing like something, some

ideas with that, okay, this is great.

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And that was like middle of, uh, 2022.

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Uh, and so, and then, um, control Net

came out and like other models came out.

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I'm like, okay, let's try

that and let's, let's add add.

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And we already kinda had the pipeline

for that where we, 'cause we started

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to tinker with it and we started to

add all, all those, you know, other

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technologies that's being developed.

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And so as we were adding that, uh, it

really started to become a product.

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Okay.

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Like, actually this is like good,

like we should, like, you know,

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like, let's see what people think.

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And then I think at the beginning of, of

January, uh, in, uh, I think it was like,

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uh, January 2nd or something like that,

uh, we wanted to get it before the, the

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year ended, but you know, the holidays

and they're like, Ugh, it was so close.

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But anyways, uh, January of, uh, um,

:

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for, for Revit it was very basic.

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It's just like, uh, you know,

limited resolution and, and, and,

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you know, uh, but it was really cool.

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It was like a really cool start.

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And then as things have developed

and things have, uh, upgraded over

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time, we just kind of kept on adding

and started to build our like.

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More of our own, um, even our own models.

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And we start to train and we, we

started to kind of really finesse

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the process and, uh, kind of take

more, more own ownership of it.

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But that's kind of how,

like it's nascency.

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That's how it started.

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We just kept on tinkering and like,

okay, let's just see what this is.

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This is fun.

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And, and uh, yeah.

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That's kind of how it, uh, started.

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Evan Troxel: So Ben, can you show

everybody what this actually looks like?

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I think we've, we've talked about

it, we've alluded to it, but I

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think now would make a lot of sense

to just show how it's working.

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Um, and then we can get into

kind of how you got to this

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point.

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Benjamin Guler: Sure.

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Sounds great.

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So, um, I have a SketchUp model

I like the nav a lot in SketchUp.

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So, uh, it's a button on the ribbon

here or on the tool, uh, panel.

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And so as soon as we click that,

uh, UI opens and then, uh, we

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could see our, our model in here.

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Uh, change the resolution.

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And these are the presets that

you were talking about earlier.

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Uh, Evan.

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:

So we have a few different presets here.

390

:

So if I click this one, you know,

it, um, it starts off right away.

391

:

One thing that we've learned with

our Helix product is, um, and

392

:

that's our kind of interoperability

from Sketch Up to Revit

393

:

so it brings in, uh, sketch geometry

into Native bim, was just a challenge

394

:

to get people as few clicks as

possible to get like a success.

395

:

Just like, okay, get me, like, I wanna

click one button and I get something.

396

:

It's not the right thing,

but it's something.

397

:

And so we've learned that and

that's how kind we added this,

398

:

uh, explore mode where, uh, we've

learned from that application where.

399

:

Even in this one as well, we've kind

of seen how people would like write

400

:

different prompts in the beginning.

401

:

Like they just wouldn't

know what to write.

402

:

Like I just, I don't know.

403

:

I'm lost for words.

404

:

So, you know, the, the rendition

doesn't look great if you

405

:

don't put anything in in there.

406

:

You have to kind of

define something in there.

407

:

Uh, we try to help that a little bit

and it sometimes, you know, some, you

408

:

could get some, some decent results

now without any prompt, but it's, it

409

:

really does help guide the rendering

as soon as you add some prompts.

410

:

So this page is kind of like that, where

it's like, okay, this is that single

411

:

one button click where you could just,

uh, so I'll just try a few of these.

412

:

I'll just click them.

413

:

I'll just go for it.

414

:

Evan Troxel: I.

415

:

think it's really important to just

sit on what you just said for a moment.

416

:

Uh, doing something that makes it as

easy as possible for somebody to see

417

:

some results that matter to them.

418

:

It's their model.

419

:

Right?

420

:

It's not like these presets are

some model that you're supplying.

421

:

No, it's applying these presets to

whatever I give the Veras application to,

422

:

to work with as an underlay basically.

423

:

And it, it immediately gives me as

the user permission to play with this.

424

:

And I think that is super important

from a development standpoint to

425

:

kind of reiterate that message.

426

:

It's like, what do you do when

you don't know what to do?

427

:

Oh, there's these buttons right here.

428

:

And that's a great place to start.

429

:

And, and just for people who are

developing apps, I, I, I see this

430

:

come up over and over and over again.

431

:

Like, what would it look

like if it was easy?

432

:

Because we've all been

through on this call, right?

433

:

What does the

434

:

vray interface look

435

:

like?

436

:

It's

437

:

like, are you serious?

438

:

It's like flying a jet, right?

439

:

It's, it's, it's got the, the dialogue

boxes and the settings and the, the

440

:

sliders and the words I've never

seen before as a first time user.

441

:

And it can't, we, we know what it

takes to be a, an expert V-Ray user

442

:

with the materials and the lighting

and all the settings, and then there's

443

:

something like this, which is, this

is a completely different paradigm

444

:

Randall Stevens: Yeah,

445

:

Evan Troxel: you're making

it as easy as possible to

446

:

get started with

447

:

that.

448

:

Randall Stevens: we talk about

449

:

that as time to value, Right.

450

:

What's your time to value for

451

:

that customer so they get their

452

:

kind of taste of success

as quickly as possible.

453

:

Uh, just a quick backstory.

454

:

I used to, like in the early, early days,

early two thousands, I was teaching at the

455

:

university and I used to teach 3D studio.

456

:

And it was like, I don't know if it was

me or the students, but it seemed like

457

:

every year that I taught it, it got hard.

458

:

It took longer and longer to

get them to the point where they

459

:

could actually just do anything.

460

:

And then SketchUp came around

and I'm like, man, the time

461

:

to value is just like nothing.

462

:

They can start,

463

:

you know, in, in 10 minutes,

464

:

start seeing some success.

465

:

So I agree, and, and I think you

know, what you're doing here,

466

:

Ben, is, is, is a key to success.

467

:

Show some instant value and then.

468

:

They'll give you more time, right.

469

:

Evan Troxel: these are just amazing.

470

:

Like, let's just, they're magic.

471

:

These are just magic.

472

:

Like I, you're smiling, I'm, I know

like you feel this feeling all the

473

:

time, but, but it's literally magic when

people see these for the first time,

474

:

no matter what you feel about AI and

the training and who's getting paid and

475

:

who, like that, that's, we've, we've

476

:

talked about those things on this

477

:

podcast, right?

478

:

The

479

:

governance, the ethics, uh, there's

so many things around this, and

480

:

this is, this is seriously magical.

481

:

And I just wanted to also point that

out, that these images that you're,

482

:

that, that your tool is presenting

us with immediately give us that

483

:

emotional connection potential.

484

:

To, to respond in real time, and I think

that is an extremely valuable tool to have

485

:

as a designer.

486

:

Benjamin Guler: Totally agreed.

487

:

And it is, it is very magical.

488

:

Like it never ceases to amaze

me like, oh, that looks cool.

489

:

The other one also looks cool.

490

:

So that's kind of part of it,

uh, part of the process of,

491

:

of, uh, developing the tools.

492

:

So like fun and so, uh, uh, you know.

493

:

There's so much fulfillment to

just kind of like, play with it.

494

:

And so like we just

keep on building on it.

495

:

Um, one thing that you said earlier

too that I wanna also kind of come

496

:

back just slightly to is, uh, as you

know with the presets, once you kind

497

:

of have those presets on here, you

could go back to any one of these kind

498

:

of renditions and you could see kind

of all the settings that were used.

499

:

So if you

500

:

change your, your image here, it updates

the prompt that was used for that.

501

:

And then you can kind of see,

okay, this is how that was written.

502

:

Uh, and like I think us as humans

is, we're pretty good at like reverse

503

:

engineering, uh, or not just reverse

engineer, but if learning by mimicry.

504

:

So like if you see like, okay, it

looks like those ideas are combat

505

:

separated and those phrases are built

that way for each comma, you kind

506

:

of start to read that without even

needing a, you know, a tutorial.

507

:

Like, oh, okay.

508

:

That's how that that prompt was.

509

:

'cause you could write anything,

you might write a narrative

510

:

and, and con a conversation.

511

:

Like, but it's not, you could see

the examples, it doesn't do that.

512

:

So you could, we're pretty intuitive

creatures where you could like, okay,

513

:

I could see how it's being written.

514

:

So I think that was kind of part of that.

515

:

I think you're also talking about

Randall water, like we want to get

516

:

to that aha moment where it's like.

517

:

The first click and then it's not

the right image yet, but you got

518

:

something with your data, like

it's your project and it looks

519

:

interesting.

520

:

Okay, now let's make it look like

what you want it to look like.

521

:

And you've seen an example of, you know,

of what that input, what it produces.

522

:

So if you wanted to change this,

you know, like let's say I don't

523

:

want a timber building, I want a

monolithic concrete building, right?

524

:

Then I'll render a few of those.

525

:

Then I, 'cause I know that's my

project, I'll just change the parts.

526

:

Like if you have something you we're

good at, like picking up certain parts

527

:

that are incorrect or what you want.

528

:

And so you just change the part

that you want to, what you think

529

:

it should be for your context.

530

:

And then, yeah, that, so that was

also part of that, uh, part of that

531

:

kind of thinking how we, we built like

those two kind of menus where it's

532

:

just like a separate menu altogether.

533

:

Randall Stevens: yeah, I think,

534

:

Benjamin Guler: you go.

535

:

We have it.

536

:

Model concrete,

537

:

Randall Stevens: I think people will

give you infinite amount of time if

538

:

they got that first hit of value.

539

:

Because then they will they

will stay in here forever,

540

:

maybe longer than they should.

541

:

Right.

542

:

Um,

543

:

Evan Troxel: I was gonna

544

:

say, I was gonna say dopamine, uh,

uh, you said hit of value, but hit

545

:

of dopamine is what I was thinking.

546

:

It's just as, as somebody who is

literally addicted to creating images

547

:

of architecture.

548

:

Right.

549

:

Uh, this is, this is feeding that, that

addiction in a, in a very interesting way.

550

:

Benjamin Guler: right.

551

:

So I'll, I'll just, uh, let

me reframe this a little bit.

552

:

Just gonna move it ever so slightly this

553

:

Randall Stevens: very cool.

554

:

Benjamin Guler: you go.

555

:

Yeah.

556

:

I'm, I'm giggling out here

even just by, by this project.

557

:

Like I, I, I'm lucky the concrete look.

558

:

Let's get a few more of 'em.

559

:

Evan Troxel: So, yeah, this is,

this is what it's like being on

560

:

a Zoom call with you, Ben, right?

561

:

Like we're, we're, we're

supposed to be talking

562

:

about this, but you're

doing that on the side.

563

:

You're, you're not distracted by

564

:

Benjamin Guler: a little bit.

565

:

Evan Troxel: You, you're

not distracted by email.

566

:

You're, you're

567

:

actually doing

568

:

rendering.

569

:

Benjamin Guler: Yeah.

570

:

Yeah.

571

:

Randall Stevens: So

572

:

what, uh, Ben, can you, uh.

573

:

Can, like how many images are

people creating when they're like

574

:

working on a project like this?

575

:

Do you have any stats on like they

create 10 variations or a thousand

576

:

variations, or what does that look like?

577

:

Benjamin Guler: Yeah.

578

:

So, uh, we do have optional

analytics, uh, that, that we

579

:

do collect, that kind of stuff.

580

:

Uh, we don't collect the images

or we don't train on the images.

581

:

That's a lot.

582

:

Those questions come up a lot.

583

:

Sorry, I'm gonna get to the answer.

584

:

Uh, but in the same vein, like these are

just things in my memory that come up.

585

:

Um, but

586

:

like what we've observed is like,

people like to stay within like one

587

:

shot and just explore with that,

like a hundred images or 200 images.

588

:

Uh, it was more, more images kind

of in the very beginning because the

589

:

quality wasn't that great and every

like 20th one was a really good one.

590

:

So then you're like just going there.

591

:

'cause like I want that good one.

592

:

But now almost every rendition

is, is pretty decent.

593

:

So that number kind of came down a bit.

594

:

Um.

595

:

But, uh, yeah, like we have a few

different, like we have our forums and

596

:

we see some people how their process is.

597

:

Some people render like the scene

without any objects 'cause they want

598

:

like a baseline and then they wanna

build on that, okay, I just want

599

:

my ceiling and like, no furniture

for an interior scene, let's say.

600

:

And then you build on that your furniture,

you, you build other the pieces and then

601

:

you have control of all the layers if

you wanted to, uh, to kind of just keep

602

:

different parts and different pieces.

603

:

And that's actually we, what we

already offer already inside the

604

:

application, but it's kind of limited

right now, which we're expanding to.

605

:

But yeah, to answer the, the original

question, it's, it's, uh, quite a

606

:

few different images and sometimes

changing on and off, uh, different

607

:

kind of aspects of the, of the, of the

image and using the seed, like which

608

:

the seed is, uh, uh, lets you kind of

keep the same, uh, if you were to, it's

609

:

prescriptive, uh, it's deterministic.

610

:

So if you were to run into the same

scene again and you turn the seed on,

611

:

then it will produce the same results.

612

:

Uh.

613

:

Uh, so then if you make minor

changes, let's say you remove a door,

614

:

everything else will stay the same,

but you'll have that rendition of

615

:

the version with that door removed.

616

:

So if I wanted to do, for this one,

for example, uh, and I hide, I don't

617

:

know, part of this, uh, you could, you

could see how, uh, that will change.

618

:

Let's see.

619

:

I want to kind of hide a

significant part of the building.

620

:

Let's see if this could work.

621

:

Okay, that's probably good enough.

622

:

So I'll, I'll, I'll leave the same, uh,

um, seat here and then I'll, I'll, I'll

623

:

render it one more time without, uh, okay.

624

:

So I'll use this one actually.

625

:

Okay.

626

:

There you go.

627

:

So, I mean, it's gonna take

a second to render, but yeah.

628

:

So the, the original question, like,

I think people like explore and try

629

:

different, uh, um, kind of renditions to

get kind of that design and then they kind

630

:

of finesse, uh, in like, let's say you

like most of the image, then you render

631

:

more different parts of that, that image.

632

:

So.

633

:

Yeah,

634

:

Evan Troxel: So when it came to you

designing this tool, this application,

635

:

uh, as, and it, it, it looks the

same no matter what tool you're

636

:

using as kind of the host, right?

637

:

It's like you see the same

presets on the, on the side.

638

:

You see the same row of

imagery across the bottom.

639

:

Maybe take us through the layout

of this and, and why you decided to

640

:

do it the way that you did as, as

641

:

you developed the app.

642

:

Benjamin Guler: sure.

643

:

So a bit of a background.

644

:

My, my background is

also from architecture.

645

:

I went to school for that and

um, I actually schedule was the

646

:

first application I learned.

647

:

Uh, then I learned Rhino and

then, uh, when I got hired to

648

:

work in the firm, I learned Revit.

649

:

So, uh, that's kinda was my journey.

650

:

Uh, but throughout that, even in school,

like I was, uh, always, uh, excited

651

:

about renditions and like I always

got a better CPU to be able to render.

652

:

Uh, you know, I.

653

:

High resolutions just for presentations.

654

:

So that was always a, a thing

that I was really drawn to.

655

:

Uh, and so as a, in my, uh, career, uh,

when I was kind of more in that architect

656

:

role, I would, uh, you know, produce

a lot of visualizations and do that.

657

:

So I've used tools like Lightroom,

I've used Photoshop a lot, and all

658

:

those elements kind of, I think

affected kind of the layout of this.

659

:

So if you look at the bottom

RI room, that's totally,

660

:

uh, affected by light room.

661

:

Like light room,

662

:

you can see it.

663

:

Yeah.

664

:

Evan Troxel: Yep.

665

:

Benjamin Guler: So, uh,

that, that's how that works.

666

:

Uh, the Photoshop side is kind of

something that we're actually bringing

667

:

in, but we have kind of, part of it

is we're about to release this week

668

:

is just the layer system where you

want to build your image and you kind

669

:

of like, you know, this part of the

image and not this part of the image.

670

:

So, for example, we

could do that even now.

671

:

This is a, uh, let's say if we added, uh,

let's say, I'm just gonna make this part

672

:

something ridiculous, like some kind of

maybe red material for the sake of, it

673

:

might just call it red or something red.

674

:

Okay.

675

:

And you'll see that, um, you know,

you could, you layer your composition

676

:

when you get to that design.

677

:

So those kind of elements and those

tools that I've used in the past, uh,

678

:

and other people in our, in our, in our

team used in the past kind of start to

679

:

find their, their way into, into how the

application, the interface is, is built.

680

:

Um, so yeah, so if I go over it a little

bit, we have these three tabs at the top.

681

:

The first one's kind of like that

onboard, like almost, uh, beginner,

682

:

like you're, you're learning it.

683

:

But we didn't want to just keep it for

the, for the beginner because like I

684

:

go back to it, like when I wanna try

something very, like a quick start.

685

:

So we didn't wanna make it just, you

know, wanted to have more use out of it.

686

:

So it's very simple.

687

:

You're not inundated with any, you

know, any dials or any, any sliders.

688

:

Then compose the ideas that, okay, you

are taking kind of ownership of this,

689

:

this, this design and you know what you

want, you know, the materials you want

690

:

so you can start to explore a bit more.

691

:

Um.

692

:

Uh, more restricted, you kind of with

certain materiality and then refine

693

:

is, okay, I'm set with this view.

694

:

I like most of it, but I

wanna start to change it.

695

:

So this is where you can't

change the resolution anymore.

696

:

You're actually, this is like your

Photoshop mode where you're getting

697

:

in there and you're kind of making

slide changes in here and everything

698

:

that we're adding to this kind of tab.

699

:

And there's a lot of things that

are, is coming, is kind of geared

700

:

towards that, where it's helping

with, with getting that design, uh,

701

:

much closer to what your vision is.

702

:

So, and then at the bottom

703

:

Evan Troxel: the

704

:

Benjamin Guler: have,

705

:

yeah,

706

:

Evan Troxel: oh, just just before you

go on here, I think one of the things

707

:

that, that really stands out to me is

that this tool is based on workflows.

708

:

Of an architect.

709

:

Right?

710

:

And, and one of the things that I think

we've all struggled with in the past with

711

:

Renderers is it produces one image or, or

an animation at a time, and then it's kind

712

:

of left up to you and your folder layout,

713

:

folder structure on your

714

:

drive

715

:

to kind of flip, flip between images.

716

:

And that's where Lightroom or Photoshop

kind of changed the game, right?

717

:

Because they're really workflow based

tools and, and rendering is a workflow,

718

:

so it gives you the tools you need

when you're in that mode of working.

719

:

I think that makes a lot of sense to

kind of think about the end user as

720

:

a developer and what they're doing

in this process and what tools they

721

:

need at their fingertips right then.

722

:

And, and that you're, you're pulling that

off here because when I'm ideating, I

723

:

want to look at all the

724

:

snapshots and I want to

725

:

flip back and forth and see what I like

about this one, what I don't like about

726

:

this one, because that's gonna help me

craft the next prompt for the next one.

727

:

Potentially or refine an area.

728

:

And all of those have to do with

my workflow, uh, because that's

729

:

the mode I'm in when I'm doing

730

:

this kind of thing.

731

:

Benjamin Guler: exactly.

732

:

That's you could, you

said it better than me,

733

:

so, yeah,

734

:

Evan Troxel: This episode is made

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735

:

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736

:

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737

:

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738

:

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739

:

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740

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741

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742

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743

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744

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745

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746

:

That's Chaos-Enscape.com using

code RES24 at checkout to

747

:

supercharge your design workflow.

748

:

Thanks to Chaos Enscape so much

for their support of this episode.

749

:

And now let's get back

to the conversation.

750

:

Benjamin Guler: yeah.

751

:

You start like lower, like big, broad, uh.

752

:

A big, large gamut.

753

:

It's like, I don't know,

754

:

like, I wanna try 10 things and, uh, and

then, okay, I like one of those 10 things.

755

:

Okay, now let's try, you know,

10 variation variations of that.

756

:

Okay, I like this variation.

757

:

Let's make this the real thing.

758

:

So that's kind of the

Exactly, that's the process.

759

:

Evan Troxel: It's just like architecture.

760

:

You start way back and then you zoom

in, and then you zoom out, and then

761

:

you zoom in and then at some point you

decide, okay, this is the direction

762

:

and we're gonna zoom in more and more

and refine and refine and refine.

763

:

And it makes a lot of sense for the

actual user who's using this application,

764

:

I think, because it, it feels pretty

765

:

natural then at that point.

766

:

Benjamin Guler: It's also

like diffusion the noises.

767

:

And the noises.

768

:

Evan Troxel: Hmm.

769

:

Benjamin Guler: I had to do that.

770

:

Add that in there.

771

:

It gets clear, the image gets

clear and clear and clear, uh,

772

:

to, to what it needs to be.

773

:

So, yeah.

774

:

Mm-hmm.

775

:

Randall Stevens: So the, been the, uh,

this ability to mask and layer and build

776

:

that up, uh, it sounds like that's close.

777

:

Uh, was that, uh, driven

by a user request?

778

:

Uh, how, how did that feature,

how did y'all decide that that

779

:

should be what, what you do next?

780

:

Benjamin Guler: Yeah, there's quite a

few different examples of how, uh, even

781

:

personal examples, like I would take from

five images and I would go and Photoshop

782

:

and, and you know, get elements from

each one that's coming, essentially.

783

:

So you just don't have to leave

the application to get that.

784

:

Let's say you have five or these

three images and you like part of

785

:

one, but not part of the other one.

786

:

I want to just blend the two and I

want to keep the parts that I like.

787

:

And then in Photoshop, you know,

it's kind of super powerful.

788

:

You can do anything you want, but

in Photoshop you have to know like,

789

:

okay, where you add little mask,

the, you know, the feather of the

790

:

mask and where, where it is in the,

in the channels, the alpha channel.

791

:

So you have to do all that, and you have

to kind of know how those things are.

792

:

And our interface's

just, you know, simple.

793

:

It's like, okay, you know what you want?

794

:

You want to combine these two

images, there's just two buttons

795

:

and you don't have to learn that.

796

:

Um, so we've seen that actually

with a lot of our end users,

797

:

users already doing that.

798

:

Like they're, they're taking their

images and they're, they're going to,

799

:

to Photoshop it and doing that, so.

800

:

Okay.

801

:

It makes sense.

802

:

Okay.

803

:

It seems like this is something that, that

you're doing, let's just add it in there.

804

:

Uh, so, and also personal,

personal experience too.

805

:

Like, I, I think I've done that, uh,

quite a few times and I think there's

806

:

a third one, but I'm, I'm forgetting

there's a third example on that.

807

:

Randall Stevens: Are are, are you

able, uh, and I'm not as familiar with

808

:

this, with this tech bin, but are you

able to separate material choices from

809

:

lighting and say, I want that material,

but it needs to now be consistent?

810

:

'cause that, you know, Photoshop,

that was always the challenge was,

811

:

you know, you could end up with mixed

lighting and, you know, yeah, you could

812

:

collage stuff together, but, um, are

you able to control those separately

813

:

and then use those as separate

passes or separate inputs, I guess.

814

:

Benjamin Guler: Yes, we could, we

could do that in the live version

815

:

that we have right now, we don't have

that, but, uh, not so much on the

816

:

lighting side, but the material side.

817

:

Uh, definitely on the material side,

the different maps and channels that

818

:

you could have for all the different

materials that are present in the

819

:

scene, that's, uh, something that,

uh, is actually, uh, very, uh, man, we

820

:

could manipulate that a lot actually.

821

:

And that's very powerful.

822

:

Randall Stevens: Yeah, I was just

noticing even as you flip through

823

:

those, the, you know, the lighting,

the where shadows were were different.

824

:

So if, if all of a sudden in one part of

the image you said, I really like this, I.

825

:

But maybe what you really like is

the material choices or the way that

826

:

that was affected.

827

:

Can you, can you end up re basically

re rendering, holding the material

828

:

there and changing it over here with

consistent lighting and those things.

829

:

It

830

:

seemed like natural

831

:

evolution of this would be that

832

:

kind of granularity.

833

:

I.

834

:

Benjamin Guler: Yeah.

835

:

So with, with the lighting, if

you wanted, like if it's uh, you

836

:

know, overcast, that's kind of

nice 'cause then it just blends in.

837

:

So if you're kind of have that

part of your prompt, then you don't

838

:

have to worry so much about it.

839

:

But if it's direct lighting, then

that's also something that, something

840

:

that we've seen other users do

because of the, uh, the base.

841

:

You have actually have the shadows

that had shadows and you know,

842

:

you have to include in the prompt

what that means, what those,

843

:

you know, what is that geometry?

844

:

Is that the carpet changing its color or

is it actually a shadow of the carpet?

845

:

So you kinda have to add them the prompt.

846

:

That's what we've seen.

847

:

And per that, you could then, you know.

848

:

Allow the engine to, okay, understand

it's the same material, but you're

849

:

kind of rendering the shadow.

850

:

So then you can have consistent views.

851

:

Let's say if you have like a sun

through a window, uh, coming through

852

:

and you, you, you want it to render

just different materials, but you still

853

:

want the same shadow in the same spot

that we, we've seen success in that.

854

:

So

855

:

Evan Troxel: One of the, one of the

benefits that you mentioned there

856

:

is just not having to learn another

tool or know another tool to the

857

:

level of expertise that you needed.

858

:

Are there additional benefits to you

doing all of this in Veras, like giving

859

:

those abilities to a user, like like

blending, like you mentioned, feathering

860

:

and masking and all those things.

861

:

Are those things being taken care of

then by Veras at a, at a, at a pretty

862

:

nice level to So where I, I feel like I'm

gonna be pretty happy with the outcome

863

:

without knowing the depths of Photoshop

to get those kinds of results if I

864

:

had to do it manually.

865

:

Benjamin Guler: yeah, I actually

changed, uh, the dev version here.

866

:

Uh, but that's exactly what

we're working on, uh, this week.

867

:

I think I could show you a GIF though.

868

:

It's really cool.

869

:

I wonder if we, we recorded that gif.

870

:

Uh, let's see.

871

:

But yes, yes.

872

:

The answer is yes.

873

:

Uh, I don't know if I

have a visual for it yet.

874

:

Again, this will be probably released

by the time, uh, this, this airs.

875

:

Uh, let's see.

876

:

I think I have maybe this one.

877

:

Okay.

878

:

I'll show you this one.

879

:

It's a bit, uh, early, so it's

a, you have to forgive it.

880

:

cause I think it's really fun to,

to look at and it's really, uh,

881

:

interesting how it, how it blends things.

882

:

And that's exactly, uh, what you want.

883

:

Let's say you want to, um, talking

about lighting, let's say you want it

884

:

to just change the sky to something

that's very different the way you

885

:

would want to blend that matters.

886

:

Like, you really wanna,

887

:

you don't wanna,

888

:

Evan Troxel: the, the, building, right?

889

:

It's not just the sky,

it's, it's the lighting,

890

:

it's the shadows, it's everything.

891

:

Benjamin Guler: Right.

892

:

So here I will do something a little

bit scary, but I think it's gonna work.

893

:

So this is gonna get reset

for a second here, but I will

894

:

share my screen in a second.

895

:

It's pretty neat.

896

:

Okay.

897

:

Here, sharing screen and

let's see here, our screen.

898

:

Alright, cool.

899

:

So I'm going to just render this

once and then I'll go to the,

900

:

uh, the mask, uh, to, to show you

guys, uh, how, how that will work.

901

:

Again, this is without the

layer system, uh, built in yet.

902

:

So it's, it's all the backend is

already, it's just the UI is not ready.

903

:

So it's, that's kind of

the, the cadence there.

904

:

Uh, so let's see here.

905

:

Uh, this will take a second here.

906

:

Okay, so let's say that, uh,

okay, let's say I wanted to change

907

:

the, uh, the sky, let's say.

908

:

So if we added this and we just say.

909

:

I'll kind of eat into it, and

you could actually kind of draw

910

:

here if you drag and click.

911

:

So I'll just leave it there.

912

:

And that's a pretty, you

know, funky mask there.

913

:

Let's just say, uh, night sky.

914

:

All right, let's see what we get here.

915

:

And I'll render that.

916

:

And right now I didn't enable that, that

mask to be kind of feathered properly.

917

:

So you'll see, you'll see what

I mean, uh, when it, when it

918

:

renders, uh, what the issue is.

919

:

But we have this kind of currently

in the, okay, there it is.

920

:

So pretty, pretty rough, uh, there.

921

:

But we have this, uh, kind of

feather where we could start

922

:

to kind of feather that in.

923

:

You can see here, like I

could go all the way to

924

:

a hundred, but again, it's, it's early on.

925

:

So this is getting there.

926

:

But you can see here like

how, how you want it to.

927

:

Just further that ever so slightly

that it looks like part of, so if I

928

:

go back and forth, it looks a bit more

929

:

correct.

930

:

Randall Stevens: Makes

931

:

sense.

932

:

Benjamin Guler: yeah.

933

:

We could go here and actually

keep a constant thing.

934

:

Let's see here.

935

:

So if I do this, say just red

or red, seems to give some

936

:

interesting results sometimes.

937

:

Like red architecture.

938

:

Yeah, it's pretty decent.

939

:

Right now we're like around 15 seconds

per render and at 10 24 by 10 24.

940

:

And we're looking at, um,

getting that even, even faster.

941

:

A lot faster.

942

:

It looks like I didn't do it, but

um, so if I look at this one, uh,

943

:

actually, let me go back to this one.

944

:

Yeah.

945

:

So if I want to have a hard edge and

then if I go all the way down, you

946

:

could see that that's kind of exactly

what that selection was versus kind

947

:

of blend, blending it a little bit.

948

:

Cool.

949

:

Yeah, that's a lot of fun.

950

:

Having fun all the time, like

playing with it, trying different.

951

:

Uh, prompts and, and, and,

uh, uh, exploring different

952

:

projects, interiors, exteriors.

953

:

Evan Troxel: I've seen

some incredible interior.

954

:

Renderings.

955

:

Uh, I think you just posted on LinkedIn,

you reposted somebody's post a day or

956

:

two ago where they had never used a tool

like this and they were just playing

957

:

around with, in some interiors of, I

958

:

think it was like a living room.

959

:

And it was like, and they, they were

just completely blown away by what they

960

:

were able to co-produce with a tool like

this in such a short amount of time.

961

:

And I think that's what's so exciting

about this for people who try it out,

962

:

who are willing to put in a little

bit, I mean, it's literally like the

963

:

least amount of effort you could do

964

:

to get renderings right?

965

:

and

966

:

and decent really,

really decent renderings.

967

:

And, And, then therefore a direction,

uh, you know, a pot, a potential

968

:

emotional response, which then says,

yes, that's the right direction.

969

:

Let's go that direction.

970

:

It's pretty

971

:

incredible.

972

:

Benjamin Guler: Yeah, so I'm playing

just with this kind of cabin interior

973

:

here, uh, chair, you know, wood

ceiling, but I'm using a prompt

974

:

that's probably not the right one.

975

:

So let's say we started to change

it to something that's more.

976

:

Also, we have this, um, I'll

change the prompt soon, but we

977

:

have this kind of slider here.

978

:

So if you really want it to stay closer

to the geometry that you have in your, uh,

979

:

model, you have this geometry of a ride.

980

:

If you go all the way out, it

will really start to, you know,

981

:

introduce other elements and go

a little bit more exploratory.

982

:

Uh, and then we also have the material

override, which tries to keep, you

983

:

know, the, when it sketch up here tries

to keep those sketch up materials.

984

:

Um, but yeah, let's, let's say if we,

the issue with the, with the material

985

:

override is just, it doesn't, um, I.

986

:

The ketchup materials are not that great.

987

:

So the more it blends with that, the,

you know, but we're working on that,

988

:

the, the less interesting it looks.

989

:

Um, but yeah, let's say if I made this

one, uh, let's say, uh, wood walls,

990

:

wood walls, uh, wood ceiling, and then

we'll leave everything else to save.

991

:

Um, but yeah, I think, I think

that's one, one thing that we've

992

:

seen a lot too with frontiers.

993

:

'cause interiors are usually hard,

especially in traditional rendering

994

:

because you have global illumination

that affects so many different services

995

:

and the way blends, like, were really

good to pick up those inaccuracies.

996

:

Uh, whereas exteriors is a lot of times

easier because it's like, you know, it's

997

:

strong lit, you know, or, or hard lighting

from sun, or even if it's soft lighting,

998

:

like just the way you, you know, in

traditional rendering, it's a bit easier

999

:

to get to, to, to a good result there.

:

00:42:11,134 --> 00:42:15,274

Whereas interiors have all these, you

know, subtle reflections and so many

:

00:42:15,274 --> 00:42:17,404

different, uh, um, material interactions.

:

00:42:17,704 --> 00:42:22,744

That start to, uh, you know, in

traditional method is, is, is challenging.

:

00:42:22,774 --> 00:42:25,925

You have to be really good at

and, and learn that process and,

:

00:42:25,954 --> 00:42:29,164

and, and craft that art, uh, to be

produce, produce decent results.

:

00:42:29,782 --> 00:42:32,992

Evan Troxel: What's the most kind of

valuable feedback if you had to, you

:

00:42:32,992 --> 00:42:37,282

know, pick one or a top three of from

users as you've gone through this process?

:

00:42:37,282 --> 00:42:39,922

Because it sounds like, I mean,

this, this tool has just been

:

00:42:39,922 --> 00:42:40,792

out for a little more than a

:

00:42:40,792 --> 00:42:45,082

year at this point in being

used by people, and obviously

:

00:42:45,087 --> 00:42:47,182

you're developing very quickly.

:

00:42:47,182 --> 00:42:51,922

It seems like I, I'm seeing you,

you're available on a new platform.

:

00:42:52,102 --> 00:42:56,812

You've got selective replacements, you've

got, you know, this new layering system.

:

00:42:56,812 --> 00:43:00,832

You've got all of this stuff that

the geometry, you know, adhering

:

00:43:00,837 --> 00:43:02,242

to the geometry versus not.

:

00:43:02,247 --> 00:43:05,422

These are all things that have kind

of shown up over the last year.

:

00:43:06,142 --> 00:43:08,542

What was a really valuable

piece of feedback that you got?

:

00:43:09,012 --> 00:43:12,792

Along that path that that really

kind of maybe even changed how

:

00:43:12,792 --> 00:43:15,462

you thought about the direction

that the development was gonna go.

:

00:43:15,824 --> 00:43:17,474

Benjamin Guler: I had like an

answer for the first part, and

:

00:43:17,474 --> 00:43:18,464

I'm not sure if I have a sentence.

:

00:43:18,614 --> 00:43:19,904

Let me, let me come up

with the second answer.

:

00:43:19,904 --> 00:43:23,774

But for the first one, I think the biggest

valuable feedback which we're working on,

:

00:43:24,134 --> 00:43:29,234

uh, even with our layer system is just,

uh, having control over the materials.

:

00:43:29,264 --> 00:43:32,264

Like having more control with

the materials and, and let's say

:

00:43:32,264 --> 00:43:35,084

if I want that to be wood, what

color would, should that be?

:

00:43:35,624 --> 00:43:40,094

Uh, specifically, so kind of getting

a bit more another level of finesse,

:

00:43:40,124 --> 00:43:44,204

like, I want this product specifically,

and so it comes in these three colors.

:

00:43:44,324 --> 00:43:46,634

Now there could be slight

variations because of lighting.

:

00:43:46,694 --> 00:43:50,774

We will always kinda change the diffuse

color of that, but that's something that's

:

00:43:50,834 --> 00:43:54,824

very evident that we, we see a lot of

times like, can we keep that material?

:

00:43:55,159 --> 00:43:56,959

Uh, um, you know, more finesse.

:

00:43:56,959 --> 00:44:01,399

And then I guess, uh, uh, another

comment on that one is, uh, being able

:

00:44:01,399 --> 00:44:05,569

to reproduce the same image more than

once, which is kind of making it be

:

00:44:05,569 --> 00:44:07,429

used more as a traditional render.

:

00:44:07,609 --> 00:44:11,869

So if I wanted to change the angle ever so

slightly, can I produce almost identical?

:

00:44:11,869 --> 00:44:14,869

And that's also something that we're,

we're working on to get, get that better.

:

00:44:15,289 --> 00:44:17,179

Um, something that

changed the development.

:

00:44:17,989 --> 00:44:19,579

Uh, I'm trying to think.

:

00:44:20,869 --> 00:44:24,979

I think, I dunno if I have a specific

one, but a lot of them along the way have

:

00:44:25,099 --> 00:44:26,479

altered the development of the process.

:

00:44:26,479 --> 00:44:27,859

Like from feedback that we've seen.

:

00:44:28,189 --> 00:44:30,469

Uh, we watch, you know,

social media a lot.

:

00:44:30,474 --> 00:44:32,534

We see people that are posting

on LinkedIn and, and, and,

:

00:44:32,534 --> 00:44:34,009

and Instagram and our forums.

:

00:44:34,009 --> 00:44:37,369

And so, uh, like we didn't think, I

think one time, like we didn't have

:

00:44:37,369 --> 00:44:40,819

like, portrait to be able to render

like decent portrait aspect ratios.

:

00:44:41,089 --> 00:44:42,139

So that was something, okay, yeah.

:

00:44:42,144 --> 00:44:43,459

That's something easy we could do.

:

00:44:43,459 --> 00:44:45,709

And um, so we added that.

:

00:44:46,009 --> 00:44:49,159

Uh, but yeah, that's, I think a lot

of smaller thing, you know, kind of

:

00:44:49,159 --> 00:44:51,259

decisions that were made that were, uh.

:

00:44:51,949 --> 00:44:54,694

That started to craft the application

more and more towards, you know,

:

00:44:54,834 --> 00:44:56,254

how, how people are using it.

:

00:44:58,054 --> 00:45:00,814

Evan Troxel: Can you talk about kind

of the, because this, this operates

:

00:45:00,814 --> 00:45:02,374

very differently than a traditional

:

00:45:02,374 --> 00:45:03,844

CPU or GPU based

:

00:45:03,844 --> 00:45:04,414

renderer where it's

:

00:45:04,414 --> 00:45:06,964

happening locally on the

hardware that I have, right.

:

00:45:06,964 --> 00:45:11,314

Versus this, where it's sending a

prompt out, there's an exchange of

:

00:45:11,554 --> 00:45:16,054

information happening, um, with the,

the model that you're using and the

:

00:45:16,054 --> 00:45:17,854

base image that I'm sending to it.

:

00:45:19,114 --> 00:45:23,344

Talk about like what that, what that's

been like for you because the, this

:

00:45:23,344 --> 00:45:27,004

is very different than the traditional

sense of like, what I need on my end

:

00:45:27,004 --> 00:45:31,084

to do a rendering versus a, a tool

like this and, and how you guys have

:

00:45:31,114 --> 00:45:35,614

kind of navigated that because this

is, this is a new paradigm when it

:

00:45:35,614 --> 00:45:38,284

comes to delivering images based on

:

00:45:38,404 --> 00:45:39,034

my model.

:

00:45:40,364 --> 00:45:40,744

Benjamin Guler: for sure.

:

00:45:40,774 --> 00:45:41,064

Yeah.

:

00:45:41,244 --> 00:45:41,464

So.

:

00:45:42,529 --> 00:45:45,619

The way it's set up is it's

cloud-based, the processing.

:

00:45:45,679 --> 00:45:49,009

So, you know, your model

stays on your machine.

:

00:45:49,009 --> 00:45:53,299

It doesn't use your CPU or GPU,

uh, on your local machine, but

:

00:45:53,299 --> 00:45:54,559

it gets in up to the cloud.

:

00:45:54,619 --> 00:45:57,259

We render it in our GPU

instances, and then we send it

:

00:45:57,259 --> 00:45:58,879

back to your, uh, local machine.

:

00:45:59,539 --> 00:46:02,359

Uh, so that's kind of the,

the main setup for this.

:

00:46:02,569 --> 00:46:05,449

Now we do have, uh, enterprise

clients that want to use this for

:

00:46:05,449 --> 00:46:08,419

more sensitive projects, and they

just don't want to have a connection

:

00:46:08,424 --> 00:46:09,439

to the internet while using it.

:

00:46:09,559 --> 00:46:12,229

And so we are working on

a, a local deployment.

:

00:46:12,229 --> 00:46:15,619

So then if, you know, if you have server

racks and you're your, uh, a company that

:

00:46:15,624 --> 00:46:20,389

has a few different, uh, GPUs that could

power it, then uh, that's also something

:

00:46:20,389 --> 00:46:22,759

that we've, we're working with a few

different, actually, companies that,

:

00:46:22,879 --> 00:46:24,709

uh, wanna have that local deployment.

:

00:46:25,129 --> 00:46:29,419

So what's nice about that is that,

you know, those companies that kind of

:

00:46:29,424 --> 00:46:34,339

need that sensitivity to, to explore

is behind their kind of, you know, um,

:

00:46:34,609 --> 00:46:37,099

intranet or their, their, uh, uh, system.

:

00:46:37,489 --> 00:46:41,149

And so that their networking doesn't

kind of, you know, leave that, um.

:

00:46:41,809 --> 00:46:45,859

So, yeah, that's how it's con And even

with that setup though, it's still not

:

00:46:45,859 --> 00:46:48,499

on your client, it's on a local server.

:

00:46:48,499 --> 00:46:52,009

So you have like a local server

system that, you know, load balances

:

00:46:52,009 --> 00:46:54,439

your requests and then sends back,

you know, whoever's using it.

:

00:46:54,529 --> 00:46:58,909

Um, 'cause it's really nice to not have

to have that, um, that on-prem setup.

:

00:46:59,149 --> 00:46:59,389

Right.

:

00:46:59,394 --> 00:47:00,259

On the client side.

:

00:47:00,499 --> 00:47:04,759

'cause then it's, it's like 30

gigabytes of just data just to, for,

:

00:47:04,759 --> 00:47:08,179

for one installation for example,

where you have that, uh, if you have

:

00:47:08,179 --> 00:47:10,939

it on, on your GP since then it's,

you know, it's more manageable.

:

00:47:10,939 --> 00:47:13,669

And then you have, you know, your

lighter clients be able to, you could

:

00:47:13,669 --> 00:47:16,789

even use, you know, um, a very thin

client to, to just do anything because

:

00:47:16,789 --> 00:47:19,699

it's just, you receive the images

and you interact with it that way.

:

00:47:20,499 --> 00:47:23,164

Evan Troxel: I I, I don't know if you

guys have done any kind of calcs based

:

00:47:23,194 --> 00:47:27,184

on that, but it seems to me like that

even is a, a, a valuable selling point

:

00:47:27,184 --> 00:47:29,944

to a firm who you, everybody's got a

:

00:47:29,944 --> 00:47:31,354

balance hardware spend,

:

00:47:31,624 --> 00:47:31,894

you know,

:

00:47:31,899 --> 00:47:34,504

capital expenses versus

this kind of thing.

:

00:47:34,504 --> 00:47:38,284

And to give people, um, the

ability to have, like you said,

:

00:47:38,284 --> 00:47:39,754

a really thin client, like to,

:

00:47:39,759 --> 00:47:41,674

you could have an iPad potentially, right?

:

00:47:41,674 --> 00:47:42,214

That, That,

:

00:47:42,214 --> 00:47:45,424

you are, you you're, you're

running sketch up on your iPad.

:

00:47:45,424 --> 00:47:48,304

You pull up a view and you say,

send this to, to Veras, and you get

:

00:47:48,304 --> 00:47:53,254

something back and, and you're not

spending $5,000 on the highest end.

:

00:47:53,854 --> 00:47:59,074

Laptop with GPU, you know, with an RTX

card, you, you've got an iPad, right?

:

00:47:59,104 --> 00:48:03,784

And, and you could effectively,

you know, in front of a client be

:

00:48:03,784 --> 00:48:07,954

coming up with this kind of prompt

based imagery, getting real time

:

00:48:07,954 --> 00:48:09,874

feedback from anywhere in the world.

:

00:48:10,264 --> 00:48:14,614

I mean, that's, that's gotta be a, an

interesting, that's gotta pique a leader's

:

00:48:14,619 --> 00:48:18,334

interest when it comes to like what

they need to outfit their staff with.

:

00:48:19,549 --> 00:48:19,849

Benjamin Guler: right.

:

00:48:20,659 --> 00:48:22,039

Yeah, it's, it's really, it's really nice.

:

00:48:22,039 --> 00:48:24,679

I mean, if you do have the resources,

you could do it and you can know,

:

00:48:24,684 --> 00:48:27,769

invest in the hardware and the

commercial grade hardware that we,

:

00:48:27,949 --> 00:48:29,629

we use like is pretty expensive.

:

00:48:29,899 --> 00:48:31,999

So you have to be very,

uh, like committed to that.

:

00:48:32,089 --> 00:48:33,169

Okay, yes, we're doing this.

:

00:48:33,529 --> 00:48:36,319

We're gonna buy a few of these and

it's gonna stay in our temperature

:

00:48:36,319 --> 00:48:39,589

controlled server room and, you know,

uh, everyone's gonna connect to it.

:

00:48:39,859 --> 00:48:42,499

Uh, versus, yeah, like you said,

like, um, you know, if you use the

:

00:48:42,499 --> 00:48:45,349

cloud instances, then it's, you

know, it's, it's very convenient

:

00:48:45,649 --> 00:48:46,279

to not have to,

:

00:48:46,579 --> 00:48:47,179

and, uh,

:

00:48:47,539 --> 00:48:50,239

you know, have that kind of

hardware, uh, you know, locally.

:

00:48:50,784 --> 00:48:51,647

Randall Stevens: do you have any stories?

:

00:48:51,647 --> 00:48:55,667

Who's, you don't have to say who it was,

but who's created the, what's the number

:

00:48:55,667 --> 00:48:59,627

of images that you know, somebody has

generated a single person with this?

:

00:49:00,582 --> 00:49:01,377

Benjamin Guler: Uh, I don't know.

:

00:49:01,377 --> 00:49:02,742

So we do collect analytics, but it's,

:

00:49:03,402 --> 00:49:09,642

but it's an anonymous, so we don't know

who, which is obviously, uh, but again,

:

00:49:09,642 --> 00:49:11,172

I haven't monitored that recently.

:

00:49:11,172 --> 00:49:14,952

I'm sure maybe Bill or, or someone

else will know more, uh, Ben Brun.

:

00:49:15,492 --> 00:49:19,152

Uh, but yeah, I think

it's, I, I'd have to check.

:

00:49:19,272 --> 00:49:20,442

I think it's in the thousands.

:

00:49:20,802 --> 00:49:24,072

Yeah, I think, I think per month

we get, I'm trying to think.

:

00:49:24,072 --> 00:49:24,132

I.

:

00:49:25,092 --> 00:49:27,222

Like half a million, maybe

renders or something like that.

:

00:49:28,032 --> 00:49:28,482

It's pretty,

:

00:49:28,962 --> 00:49:29,592

it's pretty fun.

:

00:49:29,592 --> 00:49:29,862

Yeah.

:

00:49:30,372 --> 00:49:30,612

Yeah.

:

00:49:30,612 --> 00:49:34,332

So we also have our free trial too,

so people kind of explore that.

:

00:49:34,392 --> 00:49:35,802

Uh, so they play with that.

:

00:49:35,802 --> 00:49:39,552

So a lot of users, um, you know,

um, have fun with it that way.

:

00:49:40,111 --> 00:49:40,286

Yeah,

:

00:49:40,541 --> 00:49:43,386

Evan Troxel: is there anything behind

the scenes that you could maybe talk

:

00:49:43,386 --> 00:49:48,366

about here when it came to how you

thought through the process of, of this?

:

00:49:48,396 --> 00:49:50,466

You mentioned you might have

some mural boards or something.

:

00:49:50,466 --> 00:49:53,496

I'm just wondering if, if there's anything

back there that you could show that kind

:

00:49:53,496 --> 00:49:56,046

of talks about how you handle internal

:

00:49:56,051 --> 00:49:56,371

development.

:

00:49:58,341 --> 00:49:58,611

Benjamin Guler: yeah.

:

00:49:58,611 --> 00:50:00,051

I was thinking about the beer boards.

:

00:50:00,111 --> 00:50:05,571

Uh, I think more in the context maybe

of, of local deployment and that set up.

:

00:50:05,571 --> 00:50:08,841

So I don't know if that is, you know,

that that interesting right now.

:

00:50:08,841 --> 00:50:11,661

But essentially, like, I think I already

talked about it, like it's essentially

:

00:50:11,666 --> 00:50:13,221

you have the client and then you have the,

:

00:50:13,761 --> 00:50:16,221

the instances, um.

:

00:50:17,436 --> 00:50:17,796

Yeah.

:

00:50:18,126 --> 00:50:20,076

Dev process wise, we're,

we're a small team.

:

00:50:20,196 --> 00:50:24,546

We're uh, nine, uh, we kind of,

our, our dev team is kind of

:

00:50:24,546 --> 00:50:27,576

structured like a Scrum team, so

we do agile, um, we have sprints.

:

00:50:27,846 --> 00:50:33,126

Um, we, uh, have internal releases

more often than, than, 'cause you

:

00:50:33,131 --> 00:50:37,806

know, some of these initiatives are

a bit, uh, more, uh, uh, ambitious.

:

00:50:37,806 --> 00:50:42,096

So we don't have a, we haven't had a

release, uh, a major release, actually,

:

00:50:42,096 --> 00:50:44,916

no, we did, we had the vector one very

recently, so I shouldn't say that.

:

00:50:45,126 --> 00:50:47,256

We had, that was, that was, that

was, we didn't have one in January.

:

00:50:47,256 --> 00:50:47,616

I think.

:

00:50:47,706 --> 00:50:50,136

Uh, we always have patches, so we

always kinda released a smaller patches.

:

00:50:50,136 --> 00:50:52,176

I think last year we

had a lot of iterations.

:

00:50:52,176 --> 00:50:56,166

Like almost every month we had

like a, a, a really big release.

:

00:50:56,316 --> 00:50:59,466

Uh, right now, I think one thing

that we've worked on from the dev

:

00:50:59,466 --> 00:51:03,396

side, which is a challenge, is, uh,

uh, just like working with certain

:

00:51:03,396 --> 00:51:07,326

applications that, um, are a bit

harder, like harder APIs, uh, for

:

00:51:07,331 --> 00:51:08,946

example, Vectorworks as a c plus plus.

:

00:51:09,186 --> 00:51:10,566

So that's like something that like.

:

00:51:10,851 --> 00:51:15,591

You know, is, is a harder language

to code in, and then documentation

:

00:51:15,591 --> 00:51:16,971

might not be the best documentation.

:

00:51:16,971 --> 00:51:19,101

So, uh, but it was, it was really great.

:

00:51:19,101 --> 00:51:22,671

Like it was a very good collaboration

with, uh, with, with their team.

:

00:51:23,061 --> 00:51:27,081

Um, we also have like SDK that,

sorry, I'm kind of blabbering on.

:

00:51:27,081 --> 00:51:29,421

I'm just trying to think about,

uh, kinda how we're set up

:

00:51:29,421 --> 00:51:30,501

and what we've done recently.

:

00:51:30,921 --> 00:51:36,111

Uh, where we, with our SDK, we actually

implement Veras as a separate application

:

00:51:36,111 --> 00:51:37,521

within your web app, web application.

:

00:51:37,551 --> 00:51:40,161

We're working with, with a few

different, um, parties that

:

00:51:40,161 --> 00:51:44,361

built their own, uh, formal like

application that they use internally.

:

00:51:44,481 --> 00:51:48,231

And so if you wanted to, you could

add Veras as an extension to that ac

:

00:51:48,231 --> 00:51:49,461

actually show you what that looks like.

:

00:51:49,461 --> 00:51:51,981

It looks pretty, pretty cool.

:

00:51:53,421 --> 00:51:54,711

Uh, let me see here.

:

00:51:54,801 --> 00:51:56,031

Sorry if I'm rambling on

:

00:51:56,106 --> 00:51:56,796

Evan Troxel: No, no worries.

:

00:51:57,321 --> 00:52:00,171

Benjamin Guler: Uh, but, so this

is a, um, this is online, so anyone

:

00:52:00,171 --> 00:52:02,781

AC has access to this, uh, and

he's a, here's a live demo of it.

:

00:52:02,781 --> 00:52:06,681

So this is just a quick little

application that we, uh, uh, put together.

:

00:52:06,681 --> 00:52:08,931

You could just, it's like

a little, uh, sketch tool.

:

00:52:09,321 --> 00:52:12,111

Uh, and you know, this could be, you

know, someone else's sketch tool.

:

00:52:12,441 --> 00:52:16,491

And if you, uh, start Vera, it opens

up Veras in a separate window, uh,

:

00:52:16,521 --> 00:52:20,541

that is kind of linked to, uh, you

know, it's, it's the same application,

:

00:52:20,571 --> 00:52:23,391

and then you can start to render

within that, uh, as an extension.

:

00:52:23,451 --> 00:52:26,031

You know, and this could be your own

3D view or your own application that

:

00:52:26,031 --> 00:52:29,331

you're doing something or a sketch

application, but it loads it as an

:

00:52:29,331 --> 00:52:30,711

extension to your own application.

:

00:52:30,711 --> 00:52:33,651

That's just like a few lines of

code that you have to add and you,

:

00:52:33,651 --> 00:52:35,421

you get, you know, the application.

:

00:52:35,601 --> 00:52:38,481

This was inspired with the, uh,

from the form collaboration.

:

00:52:38,661 --> 00:52:41,301

So Form has also has an extension

and it's fully a web app.

:

00:52:41,661 --> 00:52:44,871

And you could just open up form,

open up your project and extensions,

:

00:52:44,871 --> 00:52:46,161

you click Vera and it's in there.

:

00:52:46,491 --> 00:52:48,891

Uh, so yeah, this is, uh, let's

see, what setting am I using?

:

00:52:49,581 --> 00:52:50,601

Let's use this one.

:

00:52:50,601 --> 00:52:51,171

This one's better.

:

00:52:52,371 --> 00:52:57,651

Um, so yeah, but like going back

to our kind of team makeup, uh, so

:

00:52:57,651 --> 00:53:02,781

we're, we're pretty small, we're very

nimble and uh, yeah, we have fun.

:

00:53:02,901 --> 00:53:04,971

We're excited with what we do every day.

:

00:53:05,951 --> 00:53:06,251

Evan Troxel: When you

:

00:53:06,251 --> 00:53:10,421

approach these, these companies like,

like Vectorworks and you know, I, I

:

00:53:10,421 --> 00:53:15,041

would assume that there's some excitement

that you're coming to them saying, we

:

00:53:15,041 --> 00:53:18,041

want to build on top of what you've got.

:

00:53:18,041 --> 00:53:20,771

We want to talk, we want to get

your users involved in this.

:

00:53:21,101 --> 00:53:21,941

What, what is that?

:

00:53:22,181 --> 00:53:23,291

What's that process

:

00:53:23,291 --> 00:53:23,651

like?

:

00:53:25,101 --> 00:53:26,871

Benjamin Guler: Yeah, it's

really organic actually.

:

00:53:26,871 --> 00:53:30,501

I think we, uh, connected

over social media.

:

00:53:30,501 --> 00:53:31,821

It's like, Hey, you guys

are doing cool things.

:

00:53:31,821 --> 00:53:32,481

Let's just talk.

:

00:53:32,541 --> 00:53:36,201

And then we met in person at a

i a, uh, when, when I met you

:

00:53:36,201 --> 00:53:37,491

guys too, actually in person.

:

00:53:37,821 --> 00:53:38,391

So that was great.

:

00:53:38,391 --> 00:53:40,521

And that's when we're talking

with the VE Vector work team.

:

00:53:40,581 --> 00:53:43,161

And it was just a really good

collaboration, like really good synergy

:

00:53:43,161 --> 00:53:46,461

and like, uh, we liked their, their

personality, their culture, and,

:

00:53:46,521 --> 00:53:48,381

uh, we, we wanted to work with them.

:

00:53:48,381 --> 00:53:50,841

So this was a really

good like, engagement.

:

00:53:51,291 --> 00:53:54,351

Uh, and so yeah, we just set up, you

know, channels to, to talk with one

:

00:53:54,351 --> 00:53:57,711

another and we've, uh, they've helped

us through the process as like, I'm

:

00:53:57,711 --> 00:54:00,921

not a Vector X user, so I don't, like,

I'm learning the interface and you

:

00:54:00,921 --> 00:54:05,931

know, I, not only do I not know that

I know the API even less, uh, so, uh.

:

00:54:06,456 --> 00:54:07,476

It was, it was really good.

:

00:54:07,506 --> 00:54:09,726

Um, with the format team, it was

also a really good engagement.

:

00:54:09,726 --> 00:54:14,256

Like we, um, I think they've added

things 'cause it was pretty early on.

:

00:54:14,256 --> 00:54:17,316

They've added things to their API

to allow things for us to work

:

00:54:17,316 --> 00:54:18,756

together, which is really exciting.

:

00:54:18,786 --> 00:54:22,056

'cause it's like we're both building

these cars at the same time and we wanna

:

00:54:22,061 --> 00:54:23,916

make them both call talk to one another.

:

00:54:24,276 --> 00:54:26,136

Uh, so that was, that

was, that was really fun.

:

00:54:26,556 --> 00:54:28,506

Um, but yeah, it's very organic.

:

00:54:28,506 --> 00:54:32,916

Like, I think, uh, um, I met with,

uh, quite a few people there with,

:

00:54:33,036 --> 00:54:35,646

you know, just going to conferences

and talking to people and say, Hey,

:

00:54:35,646 --> 00:54:38,016

like, Hey, you're doing this cool

thing and we're doing this cool thing.

:

00:54:38,436 --> 00:54:38,946

We should talk.

:

00:54:38,951 --> 00:54:39,726

Yeah, let's talk.

:

00:54:40,056 --> 00:54:44,016

So, uh, yeah, we connected and then,

uh, we, you know, took that conversation

:

00:54:44,016 --> 00:54:45,546

online and we, we made something happen.

:

00:54:46,116 --> 00:54:48,366

Evan Troxel: It's right in line with

what something Randall said in the last

:

00:54:48,366 --> 00:54:50,466

episode with Steve Ano Randall, right.

:

00:54:50,466 --> 00:54:52,926

Because Steve was at Unify and, and you

:

00:54:52,926 --> 00:54:53,886

said what People always

:

00:54:53,886 --> 00:54:54,246

ask

:

00:54:54,246 --> 00:54:54,426

like,

:

00:54:54,696 --> 00:54:54,936

aren't you

:

00:54:54,941 --> 00:54:55,746

guys competitors?

:

00:54:55,746 --> 00:54:56,226

And you said, we

:

00:54:56,231 --> 00:54:57,396

all, we all know each other.

:

00:54:57,726 --> 00:54:58,776

We all like each other.

:

00:54:59,136 --> 00:55:02,496

And I mean, just to kind of what

you're saying is really reinforcing

:

00:55:02,496 --> 00:55:04,926

something that Randall mentioned

in the last one, which is like,

:

00:55:04,926 --> 00:55:10,596

this is a community and, and we're

interested in the a, EC getting better.

:

00:55:10,626 --> 00:55:10,986

Right?

:

00:55:10,986 --> 00:55:15,126

And, and it really sounds like, like

people are interested in working

:

00:55:15,126 --> 00:55:20,106

together and, and forging new pathways

together, collaborations, things like

:

00:55:20,106 --> 00:55:21,936

that to, to really make, make things

:

00:55:21,936 --> 00:55:22,746

better for everybody.

:

00:55:24,021 --> 00:55:24,201

Benjamin Guler: Yeah.

:

00:55:24,206 --> 00:55:25,161

And that's exciting to me.

:

00:55:25,371 --> 00:55:26,601

It's like, that's so great.

:

00:55:26,721 --> 00:55:29,901

That's like the world I wanna be

in, uh, where people corroborate,

:

00:55:29,991 --> 00:55:33,321

no, don't, like, always just compete

and try to kinda up one each other.

:

00:55:33,326 --> 00:55:35,481

It's like, actually yes, this

logistic approach where actually

:

00:55:35,961 --> 00:55:37,101

one plus one equals three.

:

00:55:37,521 --> 00:55:43,341

Uh, so I, I I, I've been very fortunate

and, uh, you know, that we've got to

:

00:55:43,341 --> 00:55:44,601

collaborate with these amazing people.

:

00:55:44,641 --> 00:55:47,136

Randall Stevens: Well, I think the,

uh, I think the tech stacks have.

:

00:55:47,246 --> 00:55:52,586

F as they've matured, have allowed

more and more, right, of more easily

:

00:55:52,586 --> 00:55:54,026

moving data in and out, right?

:

00:55:54,026 --> 00:55:57,776

Having APIs, uh, you know, using

JSON or some other, you know,

:

00:55:58,431 --> 00:55:58,771

you know,

:

00:55:58,886 --> 00:56:02,846

sim simpler ways to move data around

from these applications and workflows.

:

00:56:02,851 --> 00:56:06,476

So it's, uh, it's been conducive,

I think, more and more for

:

00:56:06,716 --> 00:56:07,436

companies to begin

:

00:56:07,436 --> 00:56:08,006

collaborating.

:

00:56:09,456 --> 00:56:09,606

Benjamin Guler: Yeah.

:

00:56:09,606 --> 00:56:13,356

That was a very intentional thing too,

because we're traditionally like Revit

:

00:56:13,356 --> 00:56:18,156

C sharp developers, and we use WPF

and, and for most of our Revit add-ins.

:

00:56:18,246 --> 00:56:22,626

Uh, you know, 'cause part of our

company also does services, uh,

:

00:56:22,626 --> 00:56:26,316

app, app application development

services, and that's kind of our stack.

:

00:56:26,436 --> 00:56:30,456

Uh, and so with Helix, which was

a SketchUp integration, that's

:

00:56:30,456 --> 00:56:32,916

where we start to migrate away

from that to web, web stack.

:

00:56:33,186 --> 00:56:36,246

And with Web Stack right now, with what

we, what we see here in the demo on the

:

00:56:36,246 --> 00:56:38,106

screen, you don't have to do anything.

:

00:56:38,106 --> 00:56:39,576

You could just actually load this up.

:

00:56:39,581 --> 00:56:42,726

If you have a web app without

even like contacting us, you could

:

00:56:42,726 --> 00:56:44,166

just copy those snippets of code.

:

00:56:44,571 --> 00:56:47,541

In your application and you

have it like it's that easy.

:

00:56:47,961 --> 00:56:52,431

Uh, and so it's, yeah, we're really,

uh, we were very intentional about

:

00:56:52,431 --> 00:56:54,861

that because we're seeing how a lot

of things are moving towards that way.

:

00:56:54,861 --> 00:56:59,601

And it's very modular, very, uh,

contained so that you can actually have

:

00:56:59,601 --> 00:57:02,271

these pieces that are part of, you know,

you could build a larger application

:

00:57:02,271 --> 00:57:03,591

of seal of applications together.

:

00:57:03,741 --> 00:57:06,981

It's mosaic of apps by building it

this way and having kind of almost

:

00:57:06,981 --> 00:57:08,601

the same kind of, you know, web stack.

:

00:57:08,901 --> 00:57:09,381

Uh, but yeah.

:

00:57:09,441 --> 00:57:12,471

Yeah, that's, that is something that

we're seeing and it's actually exciting.

:

00:57:12,471 --> 00:57:15,411

It's really cool that a lot of

applications are moving, uh, to the web.

:

00:57:15,711 --> 00:57:18,441

Randall Stevens: So how many, how

many people been, did you say are

:

00:57:18,446 --> 00:57:20,961

working on this particular product?

:

00:57:21,966 --> 00:57:23,241

Benjamin Guler: Uh, so we're four,

:

00:57:23,601 --> 00:57:24,051

uh, working,

:

00:57:24,411 --> 00:57:26,661

um, on the, on the product.

:

00:57:26,726 --> 00:57:26,906

Randall Stevens: Good.

:

00:57:26,906 --> 00:57:27,176

Tight,

:

00:57:27,446 --> 00:57:28,346

good, tight team.

:

00:57:28,406 --> 00:57:28,706

Right?

:

00:57:29,276 --> 00:57:29,996

It's, it is one of

:

00:57:29,996 --> 00:57:33,596

those, you know, if you, if you've

ever been in software development,

:

00:57:33,656 --> 00:57:37,466

you know, sometimes four people

can get more done than 40.

:

00:57:37,556 --> 00:57:37,886

Right?

:

00:57:38,061 --> 00:57:38,691

Benjamin Guler: It's interesting.

:

00:57:39,236 --> 00:57:39,416

Randall Stevens: it

:

00:57:39,621 --> 00:57:41,871

Benjamin Guler: I think our squeeze

spot might be around like 10 or 20.

:

00:57:42,026 --> 00:57:42,296

Randall Stevens: yeah.

:

00:57:42,741 --> 00:57:45,141

Benjamin Guler: Like as soon as

you and what I've seen, it's like

:

00:57:45,141 --> 00:57:46,701

once you go beyond that, it's like

:

00:57:47,040 --> 00:57:48,660

there's more breakers than accelerators

:

00:57:48,735 --> 00:57:49,100

Randall Stevens: Yeah, yeah,

:

00:57:49,250 --> 00:57:49,640

Yeah.

:

00:57:49,890 --> 00:57:50,310

Evan Troxel: You guys are

:

00:57:50,310 --> 00:57:50,790

Benjamin Guler: and then

:

00:57:50,825 --> 00:57:51,225

Randall Stevens: things down.

:

00:57:51,300 --> 00:57:52,170

Evan Troxel: with Brooks Law.

:

00:57:52,170 --> 00:57:52,650

Have you heard of

:

00:57:52,650 --> 00:57:53,250

Brooks Law?

:

00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:53,820

If you look at

:

00:57:53,820 --> 00:57:54,000

it, I'll

:

00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:54,780

put a link to it in the

:

00:57:54,780 --> 00:57:55,890

show notes from Wikipedia.

:

00:57:55,890 --> 00:57:56,760

But Yeah.

:

00:57:56,760 --> 00:57:58,110

it's like how many

people are on your team?

:

00:57:58,110 --> 00:58:00,600

If, if you have, if you

have two people, right?

:

00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:01,020

The line of

:

00:58:01,020 --> 00:58:01,950

communication

:

00:58:02,520 --> 00:58:02,970

is

:

00:58:03,540 --> 00:58:06,360

just back and forth if you,

you have a third person, right?

:

00:58:06,360 --> 00:58:08,580

We have, we have two more

lines of communication.

:

00:58:09,210 --> 00:58:12,930

If you have four people now, now we start

:

00:58:12,930 --> 00:58:13,890

getting a little

:

00:58:13,890 --> 00:58:14,940

crazy, right,

:

00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:18,330

And it just gets crazier

and crazier and crazier.

:

00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:19,890

Like Randall's

:

00:58:20,190 --> 00:58:20,610

40

:

00:58:20,615 --> 00:58:21,870

people like you.

:

00:58:21,870 --> 00:58:22,560

Imagine what my

:

00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:23,790

diagram would look like with 40

:

00:58:23,790 --> 00:58:24,180

people.

:

00:58:24,180 --> 00:58:24,540

It would

:

00:58:24,540 --> 00:58:25,890

be, it would be insane.

:

00:58:26,190 --> 00:58:26,430

And

:

00:58:26,430 --> 00:58:28,560

just managing that is

:

00:58:29,100 --> 00:58:29,700

becomes the

:

00:58:29,700 --> 00:58:30,090

job.

:

00:58:30,120 --> 00:58:31,020

I I just talking

:

00:58:31,020 --> 00:58:36,240

about this on another podcast, just

email like in one day, 236 emails,

:

00:58:36,750 --> 00:58:40,110

if leadership of a company knew

how much time people were spending.

:

00:58:40,500 --> 00:58:43,560

Just fielding emails, and

that's just one piece, right?

:

00:58:43,560 --> 00:58:44,610

It's incredible.

:

00:58:44,760 --> 00:58:48,000

Wouldn't you rather have people on

your staff playing with a tool like

:

00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:52,350

this, doing something valuable on a

project rather than fielding email?

:

00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:52,920

Right.

:

00:58:52,920 --> 00:58:55,890

And, and so it, it is like, it's a

:

00:58:55,890 --> 00:58:56,370

crazy thing.

:

00:58:56,370 --> 00:58:57,000

So that's, that's

:

00:58:57,005 --> 00:58:58,080

amazing that you're building

:

00:58:58,080 --> 00:59:02,220

this tool with four people and

to see how fast you're releasing

:

00:59:02,580 --> 00:59:04,890

new features, bug fixes.

:

00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:06,570

It's, it's absolutely

:

00:59:06,930 --> 00:59:07,680

so cool.

:

00:59:08,180 --> 00:59:08,360

Benjamin Guler: yeah.

:

00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:10,970

We literally see, like when we

have one person on the project,

:

00:59:11,480 --> 00:59:13,730

uh, like does say it's a hundred

percent, that's the baseline.

:

00:59:14,030 --> 00:59:17,360

When you add two people, it's

already at like one 50 each.

:

00:59:17,365 --> 00:59:18,380

That's 300% output.

:

00:59:18,755 --> 00:59:19,655

Just because of that.

:

00:59:19,655 --> 00:59:22,115

Like actually, like you build on one

another and you encourage one another.

:

00:59:22,175 --> 00:59:24,845

Just having two, three becomes

like a hundred percent.

:

00:59:24,845 --> 00:59:28,565

Again, all of them four becomes 80%

everyone, or 90% everyone, and it

:

00:59:28,565 --> 00:59:29,765

just kind of starts to go lower.

:

00:59:29,945 --> 00:59:32,105

But you're still getting 90%

of every single person, which

:

00:59:32,105 --> 00:59:35,015

is way more than three still

because of the way it compounds

:

00:59:35,345 --> 00:59:37,145

or not compounds, but the

way it kind of adds up.

:

00:59:37,325 --> 00:59:41,915

So, but at a certain level it's like

you're, like you said earlier, like you're

:

00:59:41,915 --> 00:59:45,395

spending time, a full-time job, just

communicating, just getting everyone you

:

00:59:45,395 --> 00:59:47,885

know, and different emotions, different,

you know, everyone's very passionate and

:

00:59:47,885 --> 00:59:51,035

love the project and you know, there's,

when you're, you know, super passionate

:

00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:53,645

about something, you have different

ideas, different opinions, you have to,

:

00:59:53,650 --> 00:59:54,905

you know, okay, well let's try this one.

:

00:59:55,025 --> 00:59:55,775

Which is good actually.

:

00:59:55,775 --> 00:59:56,525

We like that friction.

:

00:59:56,525 --> 00:59:59,165

We like to have a little bit of friction

because it kind of likes the best idea

:

00:59:59,435 --> 01:00:02,885

when, but when it gets to a certain

size, then it gets like, okay, well

:

01:00:02,885 --> 01:00:06,275

we can't get things done as, as, as

fast as we'd like to get them done.

:

01:00:06,275 --> 01:00:06,515

So.

:

01:00:06,950 --> 01:00:07,190

Yeah,

:

01:00:07,670 --> 01:00:09,650

Evan Troxel: And there's the other

parts of everyone's life that

:

01:00:09,655 --> 01:00:10,910

works its way into what we do.

:

01:00:11,090 --> 01:00:11,330

Right?

:

01:00:11,330 --> 01:00:15,440

There's, there's the, the emergencies,

there's the kids, there's the school,

:

01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:17,960

there's the lunches, there's everything,

:

01:00:18,320 --> 01:00:20,510

there's drama and, and all that

:

01:00:20,540 --> 01:00:22,160

is a piece of that as well.

:

01:00:22,165 --> 01:00:23,090

And it, it's big a

:

01:00:23,090 --> 01:00:24,410

part of that soup for sure.

:

01:00:25,490 --> 01:00:26,125

Benjamin Guler: Yep, yep.

:

01:00:26,125 --> 01:00:26,605

We're all human.

:

01:00:27,315 --> 01:00:27,665

Randall Stevens: Great.

:

01:00:27,670 --> 01:00:27,940

Great.

:

01:00:28,780 --> 01:00:29,710

It's been great, Ben.

:

01:00:29,770 --> 01:00:30,130

Uh.

:

01:00:30,700 --> 01:00:32,950

Appreciate your being able to share.

:

01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:37,600

You know, obviously a lot of people have

seen the output, but you know, we like

:

01:00:37,600 --> 01:00:40,360

to do on this podcast is give a little

bit of the behind the scenes and the

:

01:00:40,360 --> 01:00:42,250

backstory for how all this came about.

:

01:00:42,255 --> 01:00:44,920

So we really appreciate your,

uh, willingness to share.

:

01:00:45,115 --> 01:00:45,235

I.

:

01:00:45,795 --> 01:00:46,135

Benjamin Guler: Of course.

:

01:00:46,365 --> 01:00:46,935

It's a pleasure.

:

01:00:48,365 --> 01:00:51,995

Evan Troxel: so we'll put links to

Evolve Lab Veras in the show notes.

:

01:00:51,995 --> 01:00:55,595

Ben, I'll put a link to your, uh,

LinkedIn so people can follow you.

:

01:00:55,595 --> 01:01:00,515

And, uh, I'll encourage everyone to again,

look up the hashtag Veras ai Veras render.

:

01:01:00,845 --> 01:01:02,285

You mentioned a couple of them earlier.

:

01:01:02,345 --> 01:01:05,435

Um, I think that would be

eye-opening for people to see the

:

01:01:05,435 --> 01:01:08,525

kinds of output that people are

producing with a tool like this.

:

01:01:08,525 --> 01:01:10,985

And it, I, thanks so much for sharing.

:

01:01:11,105 --> 01:01:14,195

I'll just echo what Randall just

said, just to, to take us behind

:

01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:15,815

the scenes and, and get into it.

:

01:01:15,815 --> 01:01:17,975

I think I even learned a

few things just watching you

:

01:01:17,975 --> 01:01:19,145

use the tool today

:

01:01:19,535 --> 01:01:19,865

that

:

01:01:19,865 --> 01:01:21,755

I probably wouldn't have

picked up on my own.

:

01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:24,725

So another benefit for, uh,

people watching this episode.

:

01:01:24,880 --> 01:01:27,400

Randall Stevens: And we should, uh, we

should mention, I don't know if we're

:

01:01:27,405 --> 01:01:30,970

gonna get Ben over for the Confluence

event that we're gonna do in New York

:

01:01:30,970 --> 01:01:35,800

City on April 17th, the one day event,

but it is around AI and machine learning.

:

01:01:35,800 --> 01:01:36,850

So this is right up the alley.

:

01:01:36,855 --> 01:01:40,600

So we'll twist your arm, Ben,

and, and hope to see you there

:

01:01:40,600 --> 01:01:42,460

or other members of your team.

:

01:01:42,520 --> 01:01:43,270

And then, uh.

:

01:01:43,780 --> 01:01:47,890

Hopefully anybody in the, uh, in

that region or in that area will be

:

01:01:47,890 --> 01:01:49,690

able to, to come and learn that day.

:

01:01:49,720 --> 01:01:52,210

'cause we'll have, uh, several

people, uh, the, the speakers

:

01:01:52,210 --> 01:01:54,070

will be, start to be announced

here in the next couple of weeks.

:

01:01:54,070 --> 01:01:55,030

So by the time this

:

01:01:55,030 --> 01:01:56,320

podcast come out, you'll be able to

:

01:01:56,830 --> 01:02:00,280

check out who all, uh, you can come

and meet and greet and have, uh, just

:

01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:01,960

deeper conversations around these topics.

:

01:02:02,840 --> 01:02:05,810

Evan Troxel: Yeah, we'll have a link to

that event in the show notes as well, so

:

01:02:05,810 --> 01:02:07,610

people can click on that and learn more.

:

01:02:08,030 --> 01:02:11,270

Uh, and, uh, yeah, it would be

great to see everyone who's really

:

01:02:11,270 --> 01:02:15,410

interested in this kind of work show

up and, and be in the room for, for

:

01:02:15,410 --> 01:02:16,580

what's gonna happen at that event.

:

01:02:16,580 --> 01:02:16,820

So.

:

01:02:17,540 --> 01:02:20,000

All right, well, I think

we're gonna wrap this one up.

:

01:02:20,005 --> 01:02:21,050

Thanks again everybody.

:

01:02:21,050 --> 01:02:22,790

This was a fantastic conversation.

:

01:02:23,168 --> 01:02:23,523

Randall Stevens: Thanks guys.

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