Virtual walkthrough of a building foundation system using game engine

Abstract

Today's animation/visualization techniques provide a virtual experiential learning of built environment when combined with interactive design animation and virtual design navigation. 3D game engines offer a virtual world with high speed rendering quality, and user interactivity in allowing the user to explore the space and navigate as if in the real world, which is difficult to obtain using traditional 3D pre-rendered and non-interactive visualization tools. Foundations are the underground structural entities in a building. Due to its setting and location, students find it difficult to visualize its role and presence in the structural system of the building. Apart from the initial stages during construction, the foundation system in the building remains unseen to everyone for the rest of its term of existence. The game engine technology could be utilized in this context as they have the capability to represent a virtual environment and induce a user interactive experience. The objective is to create a model of a building in "Unreal Game Engine 2" with its detailed structural foundation systems. Hence, similar to an endoscope procedure in medicine, the user will be allowed to go under the ground and explore the foundations and slabs at its structural reinforcement level. For architecture students the added realism of these models can enhance understanding of their own design in relation to time, space, environment, and scale. Through this process, the student develops a deeper understanding of the underground foundation details and experiences a procedure that is only possible in the virtual world. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2009.