Gaming engines turbo boosting engineering
At a glance
The gaming industry and engineering worlds are not often associated with one another but looking a little more closely, one can see the impact gaming engines are having on how complex built environments are visualised, interacted with, and ultimately understood.
Engineers, designers, planners, clients and educators are increasingly using virtual environments, enabled by gaming engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine, to inform, improve and enhance project procedures and delivery. It is clear the engineering world is taking grateful advantage of the journey the gaming world has travelled. Engineering has woken up to the potential these platforms have in driving innovation in visualisation, immersion and interaction. They are fast becoming a dynamic and adaptable key solution in servicing clients across the entire engineering spectrum; from urban planning, buildings and mines, through to infrastructure and utilities.
Digital engineering and the digital twin are revolutionising the entire engineering delivery workflow, creating digital assets (‘twins’) that accompany the physical asset through its entire life cycle. The use of gaming engines enhance the human experience of interaction and understanding of our environment, from inception through to decommission, improving the bottom line for all.
Gaming engines have a rich history in enabling human interaction within realistic three-dimensional realms for unparalleled immersive user experiences. Engineering in the past has been slow to harness the power of 3D, however this is no longer the case and in recent years, the industry has moved quickly towards its adoption. It is now amongst the leaders in experimenting and using emerging technologies, the gaming engine underpinning as key facilitator and integrator.
The possibilities are endless. One application receiving considerable attention is the use of 3D models from Building Information Modelling (BIM) software into Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). As part of the collaborative BIM workflow, 3D models are created, refined and presented within a virtual world, allowing a wide range of users to interact with the model and associated information, immediately and intelligently. The multiple spatial data sources supported by gaming engines, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), takes this even further: not only placing the user in the building, but also the building in its environment. This deep interaction and communication between the user, built and natural environment and the swathes of available digital information is unparalleled, it has not been possible until now. The gaming engine is a key enabler.
The aim is for experiences to play out as they would in the real world. For example, walking through a room, one could instantly understands its size, and the scale and placement of all the items within it. If that is not interesting enough, the next stage is where we can see through walls to view pipe work or electrical cabling, allowing designers through to facilities managers to understand where each element is and how it interacts with other elements of the building at an intricate level. In the design phase, this could make clash detection and Safety-In-Design (SID) issue resolution an easier task. At the other end of the life cycle, it enables facilities managers to interact with their facilities intelligently by seeing (via AR) exactly where they are, through walls, floors and ceilings. IoT (Internet of Things) and equipment sensors integration then enables real time equipment status reporting for immediate and targeted response.
AR technology, and enabled devices such as tablets and eyewear, are poised to change forever the way we interact with the physical world, considerably improving efficiency. It is still early days but we are well on the way to having intelligent virtual environments that replicate, interact and seamlessly overlay the real world. The digital twin, as it is known, is a 3D digital replica of real world physical assets, but will foreseeably extend to processes, people, places, systems and devices. It will be used for many and varied purposes, including most notably decision making and training. Add Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to the mix, as gaming engines are doing, and you enable powerful predictive and response behaviour back to the user.
Serious gaming beyond engineering
Companies have been experimenting with ‘gamifying’ training for some time as they appeal to both employees and employers, providing opportunities to combine visualisation and education whilst driving high engagement, strong learning outcomes and collectible metrics.
GHD has worked with a number of companies and government organisations to create engaging, interactive, and intelligent training experiences within VR, often using 3D BIM models the companies already have. We’ve created simulations to assist police and emergency services in incident command, a digital twin of a working mine site, and how to start a World War II jet engine, to name just a few. These simulations have greatly improved safety and reduced cost of on-site training.
Recently we have begun working with a large utility to develop immersive real world safety simulations that collect metrics on user performance as trainees complete the simulation. The metrics can then be viewed by both trainee and trainer to get a more complete understanding of comprehension and retention.
It’s important to understand the simulations being built with gaming engines are not like the games people play in their homes. They use immersion and interactivity to create intuitive real world experiences to engage users rather than the simple rewards-based dopamine reaction of a typical entertainment based game.
The future is bright
The use of gaming engines, spatial data and digital engineering is enabling a more comprehensive and easily understood view of our world. We will soon see AR headsets as standard equipment in engineering projects. As the technology improves, one day we will see wearables as lightweight as sunglasses. At that point, democratisation of the digital twin, overlaid and interacting with the real world in real-time will be the norm. The use cases are unlimited; but let’s choose one: the power company engineer completing a design for an upcoming subterranean substation brownfield refit. Working from a verified BIM model (created from a laser scan of the site) the engineer seamlessly ports his or her designs into VR to share with others in the team for review. The remotely located team collaborate in real-time, together with their AR glasses wearing team member onsite, validating and updating the design on the fly. AI engages with the design based on learned experience and an understanding of the network to make suggestions. However let us not forget the safety of the onsite team member, who weeks before received training in VR within the digital twin of that very substation, and now through their AR glasses can see the status of all equipment (because it is integrated to the SCADA system) and isolate equipment if needed by via voice command.
These solutions are conceivable with the capability gaming engines support now. Put simply, gaming engines are a key enabler to linking the digital twin into the real world, leading to safer, faster and more efficient decision making in engineering, changing the paradigm of human interaction with technology and data.