Veidekke ID is a configurator that allows buyers to configure and visualize their exact apartment, years before it’s even built. Everything from flooring and wallpapers, to appliances and storage options is configurable. This project helps Veidekke to lead the way to the housing market of the future.
Background
In 2017, Veidekke came to Animech and described their new digital sales plan. They were developing this new concept — Veidekke ID. Instead of offering generic apartments, they would give their customers a choice between 3 different design styles — Korall, Kristall, and Grafit. Additionally, the customer could personalize their apartment by choosing wallpapers, storage options, appliances, etc.
To show the visual quality we could offer, we began by creating a pitch. In it, we presented different technological approaches we could take — from rendered images to real-time WebGL. Traditionally sold apartments often use rendered images, which represent generic apartments. With Veidekke ID though, this approach wouldn’t be possible since each apartment could be customized. Animech and Veidekke therefore decided on a realtime configurator.
Creating the apartments
In order to build a future-proof system, we built a tool that automatically converts the architect’s CAD files to a usable mesh. We also built a furnishing planner, in which the customer’s interior designer decorates the apartments in different styles. This is also where the designer chooses which options are configurable for each apartment.
The biggest challenge was to create a realtime, WebGL based application that could rival arch-viz renders. The thing that sets realtime and pre-rendered images apart is mostly the lighting. Specifically, realtime renders cannot calculate indirect lighting, which is one of the most important aspects when visualizing interiors.
To address the lack of indirect lighting, we had to lightbake every single apartment permutation. If you only change the size of a wardrobe, we need to load a new lightbake for that room. We solved this by creating a tool that automatically calculates every single permutation for every apartment. When the interior designer is done styling the apartments, the permutations get sent off to a render farm for lightbaking.
Creating decorations
To support the interior designer’s work, we also had to create a large library of decorative props. Since the customer had very specific products in mind, we had to create them from scratch. Furniture, vases, radiators, appliances, textiles, and lights were some of the types of assets we created.
In terms of amount of 3D content, this project has been the largest that I’ve been a part of. I was mostly involved in creating the decorative props – in total I made around 250 different models, most of them unique. Below are renders from Substance Painter showing some of them.
Closing thoughts
On this project I loved being able to really focus on the visual quality, since it was the top priority for Veidekke. In addition to creating many props, I also helped set up workflows & provided support regarding lightbaking.