CASE STUDY: How VIMaec and Mortenson Are Pushing the Boundaries of Applied VR

Until recently, Virtual Reality (VR) was a highly niche product, with minimal applications. But since early 2016, VR has started to play a bigger role in a number of industries. VIMaec is using VR in a radically new and extraordinarily effective way. By focusing its attention on just two products for the AEC industry, VIMaec delivers a highly interactive VR experience that is utterly unique in the segment. VIMaec’s two specialties are creating Virtual Information Models (VIMs) and Unity. VIMaec takes Autodesk Revit models, a CAD-like program containing Building Information Modeling (BIM) software that architects use to create detailed digital blueprints, and converts them into 3D VR models that users can walk through and engage with. The Unity platform works in parallel with the existing VIM file to enable AEC designers to create high fidelity graphics and interactive VR models for the user to experience. This new take on VR is being put to the test by VIMaec collaborator and nationwide contracting company, Mortenson.

Collaboration with Mortenson

An exceptional customer experience by pushing the technological envelope. As a result, their portfolio is extensive and impressive. A large national contractor and builder, they have worked on the Denver International Airport, the Harley Davidson Museum, and even the world-famous Walt Disney concert hall in Los Angeles, California. This one-of-a-kind design by innovative architect Frank Gehry required out of the box thinking to create the “building that no one said was possible to build” and started Mortenson on the road to incorporating more technology such as VR into their work. Since then, Mortenson has pushed to be at the forefront of their industry by bringing in cutting-edge technology and incorporating it into their process. By providing their customers a versatile toolset for fundraising, marketing innovation, sales, and talent recruitment, Mortenson has taken what was simply a cool new technology and turned it into real value for their customers.

VR allows clients to actually see their projects and communicate their needs early on in the construction process because it allows them to understand the project on a completely new level. “Once you get that headset on somebody that’s when the light switch goes off and… it becomes so immersive and easy to understand that it changes everyone’s mind.” Client interest in this new technology has been huge, so much so that Mortenson has opened a new department of Virtual Insights to focus specifically on applying VR to the customer experience.

Read more at vimaec.com