3D model generation of real estate objects for interactive virtual reality applications

Architectural firms, construction companies and potential inhabitants have a common interest in the outcome of a construction project fully meeting the needs of the inhabitants. These needs have to be assessed early enough in order to avoid expensive and complex changes in the construction phase of the project. Hence, it is beneficial for all sides to involve the potential residents in the planning process. Often, the building models used in the areas of architecture and construction are unsuitable for presentation purposes. Visually appealing 3D models of buildings are expensive to produce. The work at hand addresses this problem and presents a framework for automated generation of 3D models of real estate objects. The generated models can be explored in the virtual reality application accompanying the framework. Users can interact with the environment within the application by placing furniture and changing textures of walls and floors. According to the results of the conducted user study, the generated apartment models create a strong feeling of presence and let users experience the built environment, as if they were physically present in the apartment. The developed framework provides a low-cost and accessible way for early user involvement in the planning and construction process in a building project. Moreover, it brings a substantial improvement for people searching for a flat or house, since such virtual walk-throughs are in many scenarios the only way to experience the real estate object.