Viewing Architectural Models in VR with Avatour

Options for exporting a 360° image or video from programs like SketchUp, which can then be uploaded to Avatour and viewed using a virtual reality headset or a standard web browser.

Looking for a way to immerse your team or clients in a 3D architectural model? Look no further. With Avatour you can review 360° images and videos within a meeting, allowing each participant to control their view independently during the discussion.

While most of the popular 3D modeling programs do not support exporting 360° renderings natively, nearly all modeling programs have third-party plugins available that will allow you to export 360° renderings. This article will focus on using SketchUp together with various rendering software to produce 360° renderings. These can be uploaded to the Avatour platform for 360° viewing using either a VR headset or standard web browser.

Below is a collection of tutorials from around the web for creating 360° renderings from SketchUp models, followed by instructions for uploading assets from your desktop to your Avatour account.

Exporting 360° images with V-Ray

The Studio version of SketchUp includes the V-Ray rendering plugin which produces high-quality photorealistic images and videos. There is, however, a rather steep learning curve so we'll provide some other options as well.

SketchUp + Enscape

Enscape is another popular rendering plugin for SketchUp. Its renders don't look quite as realistic as V-Rays but it's much easier to learn.

SketchUp + SU Podium

SU Podium has been around since the early days of SketchUp and is one of the easiest and most affordable rendering solutions. It's great for exporting 360° images but does NOT support exporting 360° animations/videos. So if you are only interested in exporting images to Avatour, this might be the solution for you.

You can find a tutorial for exporting 360° images using SU Podium here.

Uploading to Avatour

Once you have your 360° images or videos/animations created, you can easily upload them to the Avatour platform by logging into your Avatour account at https://avatour.live/login.

AvatourLogin

Once logged in, click on the Assets tab in the left navigation bar.

AvatourAssetsTab

Click the Upload Files button in the upper right of the Assets page.

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Then choose the 360° rendering files from your desktop. Once uploaded the assets will need some time for processing which is shown in the asset list. Larger files, like animations, take longer to process.

In order to assign the assets to a workspace, click on the workspace tab in the navigation bar and find the workspace you want to use. Click the 3 dots menu in the upper right of the workspace card to access options.

AvatourAddAssets

Then click the Add Assets option which will give you the option to assign assets from your Assets tab to this workspace. 

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The 360° image/video can then be viewed in the workspace or during a meeting. 

Support

If you run into issues with getting your 360° renderings onto the Avatour platform, email us at support@avatour.live.