Automatic Flythrough Authoring in VR

The presentation of architectural models in virtual reality (VR) enables architects to evaluate their designs and present them to stakeholders, improving fidelity of architectural communication in architectural design. Virtual walkthroughs are a powerful tool to convey architectural concepts and unique features of the planned building. However, creating walkthroughs is a rather tedious process involving manual setting of keypoints at points of interest and in between, which are then interpolated to create the trajectory. This often results in awkward camera poses, sharp turns, intersection with geometry and clipping problems, all of which must be resolved by tweaking or adding new keypoints. Furthermore, the process requires constantly switching between an inside view, for local refinements, and an outside overview, for more global adjustments. To address this challenge, we present an interactive design tool for walkthroughs in VR. Our tool automatically provides a set of ideal keypoints, based on a customizable set of objectives, and instantly generates a complete and smooth trajectory that passes through them. It allows the user to tweak positions and update the walkthrough in real time, in VR. In addition, it allows the designer to have both an inside view and an overview simultaneously.