Online 3d and Virtual Reality services
*click and drag to interact with the 3d model above
Our company specialises in producing online 3d and VR services for our clients. These interactive 3d models can be easily viewed and navigated around, by your customers, on your website. A mobile device or PC can be used, with any Operating System and browser.
Offplan3d is a CGI production business based in the South West of England which mainly serves UK and European clients.
Having a properly setup VR system with a well built environment is a great marketing experience. In an exhibition stand, museum kiosk or show home this is fine. There has been a lot of hype around VR headsets such as Occulus Rift, HTC Vive and various Google Cardboard based options. Although headset
ownership has doubled for the last 4 years, numbers are still relatively
small.
In practice most of your customers will probably find you online. These are the reason we have concentrated on online VR solutions.
Our studio has worked with many online 3d technologies over the last 15 years. This is why we can recommend our tried and tested solutions.
In our opinion online immersive or interactive 3D falls into two simple and reliable main categories.
Firstly, a full 3d environment where the viewer can move and rotate in any direction.
Secondly, a spherical image environment where the viewer is fixed in a central location but can rotate in any direction.
Online 3d model viewers
Click below to load the 3d models. Once loaded, simply right click and drag to rotate, left click and drag to move or scroll to zoom.
The WebGL and WebVR technology we use is included in every major web browser. This means 3D models on any operating system and any browser, without any plugins being required.
This is a good solution for displaying a central object that can be orbited around (the opposite of a photosphere). The 3d model can be animated allowing us to show the product in use or internal workings if the product is disassembled.
An issue with the major online 3d model viewer applications, such as Sketchfab, is that players have the software company watermarking. To remove this branding either costs thousands of pounds or requires the application to be coded from scratch, which is specialized work and expensive.
To bypass this issue we now use a visual programming method which makes the web 3d application creation much quicker and therefore cheaper. Please click here see our proof of concept 3d product viewer .
For better SEO and faster page loading we have added an optional ‘Click to Load 3d Model’ button on the right. The advantage here is that the client owns their 3d model player (with no annual fees and no sudden price rises). In addition the client retains full control of the hosting and use of their 3d models. The possibilities of the 3d applications we can create are really only limited by your budget.
Photospheres or 360 degree spherical images
We have produced 360 images using Google Photosphere technology since 2012. Although not strictly a full 3D environment, this does allow the users device to function as a ‘magic window’ which gives a very immersive 360 degree experience.
The advantage of this format is its’ ease of use in browsers and the Facebook app.
The problem with traditional cameras is the small field of view. However a 360 degree image really gives your customer a fully immersive experience and allows them to get the feeling of the surrounding space. For viewing enclosed spaces this 360 image format is recommended.
How your customers navigate our 360 degree image depends on the device they are using. The most immersive experience comes from wearing a Google Cardboard VR headset (available from £10) and simply moving your head to look around. A hand held mobile device without a headset is also very intuitive to use. Like a ‘magic window’ simply orient the device in the direction you would like to look. Finally if you are using a PC just drag the mouse on the image to rotate the camera direction.
We can also produce Photosphere VR tours, this allows the user to jump to various locations. Also objects can also be made clickable with links to further information.
If you are in Great Britain, and want to know more about our online 3d services, please contact us.
Creating 3d images and models for Facebook
Currently we have to pay to add Facebooks posts our webpages. If you are interested in seeing this please contact us.
Since buying the Occulus VR headset company in 2015 Facebook has been very keen to promote online VR and 3d models. The Facebook mobile app now has a couple of very useful built in 3d options. We have been following these software developments closely. This allows us to produce the latest 3d digital marketing media.
Facebook 3d Photos are a limited 3d view created using two offset cameras to create a depth map (using the Apple iPhone 7 plus or newer). We can also create a CGI version of Facebook 3d Photos as shown in the example to the left. Traditional photographs can also be turned into 3d photos by creating depth maps in photoshop.
Facebook 3d Posts allowed us to create 3d models and posted them to Facebook. Offplan3d was one of the early adopters of this beta format. These models can then be viewed in a fully 3d space. Posting in this format started in 2017 and has now been stopped. No reason has been given but it seems likely that this format will be used again in the future.
Augmented Reality
Facebook Spark Augmented Reality posts– these work with the Facebook app for Android or iOS. For product display a 3d model can be show in the hand of a user and as the hand moves and rotates so does the 3d model. This is a paid advertising format that we have researched but not yet implimented in a project.
Apple has lead the way with this technology in the last few years.
Face and hand tracking are included as well as a huge range of 3d options.
YouTube 360 video
We can create 360 spherical videos for your marketing needs. These videos can be viewed either on a mobile device or PC.
This format is like a photosphere for video. The downside of this format is that the size of video is around 20x larger than normal. This means more expensive video creation and editing costs as well as slower download times for older internet connections.
In our opinion it is usually better to view 360 degree images as stills. We can create a series of still images that can be used to create a virtual tour.
Product spinners and turntable photographs
This simple format has been around for years but has largely replaced by fully interactive 3d model viewers. Our CGI business hasn’t produced a product spinner for a while but can if required.
Product spinners are similar to a photosphere in that the camera position is fixed. The difference is that the objects rotation can be changed.
A sequence of photographs are taken as the object is rotated at regular intervals. On a webpage the viewer can controls which image is displayed by mouse dragging on the image. This makes the object appear to spin in 360 degrees.
The disadvantage is that for a 15 degree rotation interval, 24 photographs are required. This requires a large file size (24x more data than a single image) and there is still a jumpy look to the objects rotation.
See these examples
Please click the link above to see how we can digitally capture your real world product or building. Our CGI team can then convert this data into a detailed 3d model which can be interacted with on your website.
Our CGI studio is based in South West England.
In conclusion, we would love to chat about the latest MIT white papers, SIGGRAPH, Google Cloud Services, Deep Learning and facial recognition. However our real job providing services that benefit our customers needs, rather than tech for tech’s sake.
Offplan3d is CGI production UK company based in Devon. Please contact us to discuss a related project.