Dear Pilot User,

This is an early version of a floor plan design tool that I've been developing because I found conventional CAD systems too hard to learn, too unwieldy, and too expensive. It is not a finished product, but serves me well enough in daily use to make it available online in order to gather feedback, which will help me identify bugs and prioritize future development. You use it at your own risk, there are no guarantees whatsoever.

So far, it doesn't have a backend, all data is stored exclusively on your device. There are also no cookies or any other kind of tracking.

The application is built for VR (I use it on a Quest 3), but also runs well on desktop and notebook computers. Don't use it on a tablet, as the mouse wheel is an important interaction element.

When you first use the application, a tutorial guides you through the essential interaction principles. You may also watch this video to learn the basics. And since you're smart, you'll probably figure out the rest by yourself. Or you just watch out for the next tutorial videos that I'm going to publish soon.

You can click the START or ENTER VR button above now. Have fun!

Since you're still reading, I'll give you a bit of background. In contrast to conventional CAD, which allows you to model geometry, the Augmented Architect allows you to specify your intention and generates the geometry for you.

The large drawing board panel is where you specify the layout. Whenever you click on "update" or enter the view mode (space bar or B on the right controller are the most convenient ways), the 3D geometry will be regenerated. Also the current state will be saved.

That's the version that will be restored when you reload or click the "revert" button. As it will overwrite the previously saved version, you can't go back beyond the last update unless you saved a version in the Workspace panel using the button "Save as new version".

The generated geometry consists of surfaces that are only visible from one side. If something is off in the 3D model, the most probable reasons are:

• Two rooms seem to have a wall in common, but actually the walls are a bit offset. Pin walls of adjacent rooms together to avoid that.
  
  
• There are openings that go beyond the limits of a wall. The program tries to prevent that but there are still ways of doing it.
  
  
• You connected two rooms with the "no wall" checkbox and have openings from laterally adjacent rooms that span walls of both rooms. Replace the two rooms by a single one, using the center pin to automatically create the outline if the room is not a simple rectangle.
  
  
• A room was generated with an 8-shaped outline. Click the "preview" button at the bottom right. This will show you the surfaces that are going to be created (and the holes in these surfaces as cyan lines) to facilitate diagnosis. If you have a room with 8-shaped outline, delete it and create a room to fill the open space where the outlines intersect.

Btw. while the automatic creation of geometry makes the Augmented Architect so fast and efficient, it also limits what you can do. The focus is not on creating hyperrealistic models, but on giving you a feeling for a space quickly. Sinks, cabinets, toilets etc. are not yet generated, but that's on my to do list, as well as more variations of stairs, railings, trim etc.

I think that's all you need to know for the moment. I hope you enjoy experiencing your designs in VR (or, next best case, in 3D) as much as I do. You know how to reach me to give feedback. If you don't know, you're not a pilot user. Enjoy anyway!

Kind regards,
   Horst

P.S.: Why is the application named "Augmented Architect"? The name is not related to Augmented Reality, but an homage to Doug Engelbart, who envisioned the entirety of modern computer usage in 1962, and was the driving force to make it happen. Among many other things, his team invented the computer mouse in the early 60s.