If you haven’t yet heard of or worked with digital twins, then get ready. This new technology allows construction and design teams to create an exact replica of their building or infrastructure asset in augmented or virtual reality. Digital twins are the evolution of building information modeling, or BIM, which brings richer data and an immersive experience to the office or field. Whereas a BIM model requires users to virtually construct a model piece by piece, a digital twin, which is a 3D vision of a real-world place or structure, can be constructed all at once from laser scans.
Because a digital twin is borne of laser scans and images taken with specialized 360-degree cameras and laser scans, it can be accurate in position and visual fidelity. Creating a digital twin allows users to bring the virtual model into the office or salesroom. Digital Twins are currently being used by a wide-ranging set of industries, including transportation and heavy construction, property management, real estate and insurance.
For example, the insurance and restoration industries are using digital twins to better track and evaluate storm or mold damage, as illustrated in a case study on Matterport’s website. Real estate agents have created digital twins of their listings to allow potential buyers to safely tour properties during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Engineers and construction teams have used digital twins to perform virtual walk-throughs and relay job site conditions in the form of real-time updates.
Matterport intends to be a one-stop shop for digital twins and spatial data, and the company continues to make a push to become a true leader in how the built world will be modeled and viewed virtually in the future. In addition to offering a wide range of equipment, including 360-degree cameras, the company provides mobile scanning applications on iPhone and Android devices and higher-end models like the Matterport Pro2 (a best-in-class 3D capture system that offers high-quality scans and extended battery life), and the Lecia BLK360, which is ideal for scanning large outdoor spaces. Besides helping clients with their equipment needs, Matterport also offers scanning as a service with a technician for quicker turnaround times.
On the software side, Matterport has customers covered with a suite of tools to enrich the digital twins experience. Matterport Capture powers data capture with a supported camera and uploads directly to the cloud for processing images and data. The Matterport Workshop features tools to help showcase a virtual space and add details, dimensions and customizations along with the original digital twin.
Matterport believes its product has the potential to revolutionize how engineers and businesses view, interact with and highlight their physical spaces, and the company is committed to developing the type of products that make digital twins more accessible to design and real estate professionals.
Expanding the use of digital twins to the entire engineering, construction, hospitality and real estate industries will require partnerships with legacy players in the CAD and BIM sector and integration with existing products that are in use so that users can learn new technology while working within familiar applications. Matterport is working to make this happen by launching a plug-in that is compatible with Autodesk’s Revit, one of the most popular and widely used BIM applications in the industry. Matterport BIM files can now be uploaded directly to Revit, enabling building and structure data to be managed efficiently from construction through closeout.
In addition to the plug-in for Revit compatibility, Matterport is also offering its subscribers access to Matterport BIM, a platform that transforms a digital twin into a working BIM model with the click of a button. Matterport handles the data processing and model generation and returns the requested output file in days, eliminating the painstakingly slow process of manually inputting details and shapefiles.
The link between Matterport and Revit will accelerate the process of gathering data and synthesize it into a usable BIM model. As those in the engineering industry are well aware, time is money, and integrating Matterport’s data collection and digital twin generating powers with Revit has the potential to generate significant amounts of cost savings on large or complex projects, especially with the potential for artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve image processing and generate model updates. CortexAI is Matterport’s AI engine that features deep learning neural networks to improve consistency of object renderings, automatic dimensioning, dynamic 3D resolution and computer vision to help power walk-throughs, video tours and object recognition.
“We’ve been working with Autodesk on our Revit Plugin and collaborated with some of the largest, most recognized firms on the Matterport BIM file offering. With the launch of these two AEC solutions, we are excited to deliver the fastest and most convenient path from a Matterport 3D scan to a BIM file in just days with the click of a button,” said Preethy Vaidyanathan, vice president of Product at Matterport. “Matterport BIM file not only offers breakthrough ROI for our AEC customers, it serves as a single source of truth for designing, building and managing properties.”
Matterport and Autodesk had previously teamed up to offer an integration of BIM 360 on the Autodesk Construction Cloud. It’s a sign that the leader in CAD is confident in the staying power of digital twins and spatial data in engineering and construction.
“No matter where construction team members are physically, they need to be able to collaborate with one another in order to keep work moving along schedule,” said James Cook, head of integrations, Autodesk Construction Solutions. “Embedding Matterport’s 3D walk-throughs into the BIM 360 Project Home dashboard provides construction team members spatial context alongside essential project data so they can seamlessly collaborate and make decisions from any location, saving time and money to keep projects on track.”
Autodesk views its latest partnership with Matterport favorably. Digital twins are the future of BIM and partnerships of like-minded companies can only help with their adoption.
“The launch of Matterport BIM file and the Matterport Revit Plugin both shows Matterport’s commitment to the AEC industry and how using BIM practices and technology platforms can increase efficiency and automate workflows for Autodesk customers,” said Jim Quanci, senior director of Autodesk Developer Network. “We are excited to work alongside Matterport to make ‘as built’ BIM dramatically easier.”
As if the power of digital twins to offer access and a real-life feel to a space wasn’t enough, there are significant cost savings that can be realized by utilizing them effectively versus traditional forms of modeling. Those cost savings can be even greater when using Matterport BIM to reduce the amount of time spent processing field data.
“There can be a lot of sticker shock with modeling costs that get passed on to the client. The 70 percent cost savings with Matterport BIM file is significant, so we expect our clients to be very pleased about our adoption of this new scan-to-BIM workflow,” said Akira Jones, director of Digital Services at HH Angus & Associates Ltd. “Since we already use Matterport to capture precise 3D as-builts of all of our spaces, we can simply order the BIM file with a few clicks and bring it into Revit. We eliminated over 40 person-hours on a recent job, which allowed our team to focus their valuable time delivering great design work to our clients.”
Matterport differentiates itself from other vendors and competitors in the digital twin space by offering a full complement of offerings—software, hardware and personnel. It’s in Matterport’s best interest to build plug-ins and tools that are compatible with legacy BIM software just as Revit helps bring new users into the fold on its own terms without a substantial learning curve. Digital twins are the next big thing in BIM and 3D design, so keep an eye out for additional integrations between Matterport and existing modeling platforms until the two become indistinguishable.