How to use SENTIO VR for client presentations & design reviews

Virtual Reality ( VR ) is rapidly becoming a part of the Design & Construction Industry. Architects & Engineers see clear benefits of using immersive presentations for improving client presentations and design reviews. Instead of showing floor plans, static renderings, or video walkthroughs, clients can now actually walk through the project before it is built on a human scale and critical design errors can be identified before the construction phase using Virtual Reality.

SENTIO VR has enabled thousands of businesses globally to implement VR in their workflows, by bringing in photorealistic walkthroughs from Lumion, Enscape, and Twinmotion as well as conceptual design reviews using SketchUp & Revit. In this blog post, we will share with you all that you need to know to take your VR presentations to the next level and ensure you are setting yourself up for success using the best practices.

Here are the four key presentation scenarios we recommend learning:

1) Set up casting for in-person meetings

2) Use the PC App for guiding clients in collaborative meetings

3) Use multi-user collaborative meetings with guided presentations

4) Download 360 panorama-based VR walkthroughs for offline presentations

5) Share 360 panoramas using URLs for viewing on any device

VR Workflow checklist

Before we dive into the best practices, let's quickly run through a checklist of key questions you need to answer to set up your VR workflow:

Goal: What is the objective of implementing VR?

Are you planning to use VR for client presentations or internal design reviews or both? In this article, we talk about all you need to know to get started with VR, and having a clear goal to start with is important to ensure success.

Headsets: Wireless VR headsets or tethered to a PC?

Have you decided on the headsets you plan to use for VR implementation? With a range of headsets available in the market today including tethered and wireless solutions at different price points, you will need to have a clear position on this. In this article, we lay out different options with our suggestions as per your usage.

Setting: In-person presentation or virtual collaboration

Do you have multiple offices/locations where VR is going to be used? Or is it one dedicated VR space that you're trying to set things up for? This can greatly influence the choice of software/workflows you might need to experiment with in order to get the right results. With SENTIO VR's cloud-based collaboration, we've got you covered for both scenarios. To know more about Sentio's Cloud-based collaboration, read here.

Best practices for VR for client presentations

1) Set up casting for in-person meetings

Scenario 1: In-person or remote meetings where you need to show the VR view to multiple stakeholders

Casting for in-person meetings

Requirements:

• Install the SENTIO VR App for Meta Quest

• Oculus/Meta headsets & PC for casting should have the same Wi-Fi network

• On the web browser, you need to log in using the same Facebook/Meta account

Steps

• Enter www.oculus.com/casting on a web browser

• Log in with your FB or Meta Account

• Choose record and cast option using headset

Choose record & cast

• Select the option to cast to computer & click next

Cast on the computer

Your browser is now casting your VR view

With Meta Quest 2 and Pro headsets, you can show what you're seeing in VR on a large screen for everybody to share the experience. Setting casting can make VR presentations a lot easier to manage - especially if clients are not experienced in using VR controllers.

All you need to do is to make sure you log in to this URL with the same credentials on your Quest headsets and WiFI connection and then start the VR casting option from within the headset.

Scenario 2: Cast your VR view on a web link without Meta accounts or technical setup

Requirement

• Install Sentio VR app on your Meta Quest

• Access cast.sentiovr.com on web

• Note down access code and the 4 digit PIN

Steps

• Open a 360 tour in SENTIO VR Meta Quest App and enter your access code

• Click on Cast in the menu and note 4 digit PIN

• Enter code in cast.sentiovr.com 

• The VR view is now automatically streamed to the web link in real-time

2) Use the PC App for guiding clients in collaborative meetings

Scenario: Clients have VR headset(s) and you want to guide their experience using your PC Application

Requirements:

• Download the SENTIO VR PC app

• Install the SENTIO VR App on Meta Quest headsets

Steps

• Login to the web app, open the project, and choose the 3D walkthrough or 360 tour for review

• Click on Launch Meeting to note down the access code and password

Launch meeting, note down access code and password

• Host: Enter the meeting access code and password on the PC App

• Guest: Enter the meeting access code on the VR App for clients

Now you and your client will be in a collaborative meeting together where you can manage their VR experience directly from the PC.

For 360 tours, all changes made via the PC ( changing images, clicking hotspots) will be directly reflected in the VR app. By default, this will be a guided experience for your clients

For 3D walkthroughs, the default experience will be free to move for everyone. To change it to a guided experience, change the meeting mode to "Guided" using the Presentation Icon. Now, your clients will be placed next to you (host) and can experience a guided experience managed via the PC App.

3) Use multi-user collaborative meetings with guided presentations

Scenario: Real-time collaborative meeting with multiple users using VR headsets

Requirements:

• Download the SENTIO VR PC app

• Note down the meeting access code and password

Steps

• Login to the web app, open the project and choose the 3D walkthrough or 360 tours for review

• Click on Launch Meeting to note down the access code and password

For 360 tours, the host and guest enter directly into the first panorama of the tour. Every participant can look around in 360. The host can then guide the experience by clicking on hotspots, and interactive elements and changing the image which automatically brings all participants to the new panorama.

For 3D walkthroughs, hosts and guests can see each other and the 3D model in the dollhouse view. From the dollhouse, the host can lead all participants to review the design in a 1:1 scale by choosing a 3D view or teleporting directly inside the model. By default, all participants are free to move around the model. For a guided experience, the host can choose from the VR Menu --> Presentation --> Guided Mode. This changes the meeting mode to a guided experience where all participants are placed around the host and experience the walkthrough as managed by the host.

4) Download Projects for Offline viewing

In some cases, it is not always possible to present content in VR online due to connectivity issues or other constraints. In these cases, Sentio offers a solution where it is possible to download Projects directly on your VR headset including 360 tours and 3D walkthroughs directly for offline presentations.

5) Share 360 panoramas using URLs for viewing on any device

In addition to offline presentations, Sentio also offers sharing VR content online using URLs which gives you the flexibility of optimizing asynchronous sharing of designs and working effectively and collaboratively more efficiently in remote spaces.

In conclusion, incorporating virtual reality into your presentation workflow can be a game-changer, it helps provide a unique and immersive experience for your audience. With the right tools and processes, you can create a personalized workflow that delivers the best results for your business. Whether you're presenting in-person, remotely, or offline. VR has the potential to elevate your presentations to new heights.

By leveraging the benefits of VR, you can enhance collaboration, streamline decision-making, and ultimately improve the success of your projects and presentations. Want to try VR workflows for your project? Get started HERE