Jason LundAtmosphere Commercial Interiors
VR & Hardware for
CET Designer
Donald StrattonHID Evolution
Introductions
• Donald Stratton – HIDevolution
• Angel Martinez - HIDevolution
• Nick Kuzmin – Configura Support
• Peter Ellvag – Configura QA & Development
• Jason Lund – Atmosphere Commercial Interiors
Agenda
• Introductions
• What’s new since last year?
• Two flavors of VR – live & tethered vs. portable
• Why is NOW a great time to buy new laptops?
• Laptop hardware recommendations
• Virtual Reality Demos
What’s New since 2015?
• VR – headsets are commercially available (Oculus Rift, HTC Vive)
• CET Virtual Viewer VR and Yulio 360 degree photo export support are
launching officially with 7.5
• I was wrong about USB docking stations (choose…. wisely). (Plugable
USB 3.0)
• The new nVIDIA GTX 1060 Graphics Processor
What is VR?
• VR = Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality uses a special headset or goggles to display a series of
static or moving images that tricks the user’s brain into thinking they are
directly experiencing the environment.
Think Avatar, but less blue.
Two flavors of VR
• Live & tethered VR (CET Virtual Viewer)
• Tethered to a PC or laptop with a wired headset like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive
• “Live” experience within CET Designer drawing means the participant can move within a
space as they choose (Movie Maker… without rails)
• Higher hardware requirements as rendering is done in real-time
• Requires CET Designer license
• Great solution for co-design, showroom demo stations, product install planning, etc..
• CET Virtual Viewer allows user to interact with through a space without the headset as well!
Two flavors of VR
• Portable VR – Yulio / Gear VR / Google Cardboard
• Runs on a portable phone or small tablet with a Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Homido mini ,
no laptop or PC connection required. Cost can vary wildly (Gear VR + a phone = $500+,
Homido glasses are $15)
• User experiences a 360 degree pre-rendered view from a fixed perspective, less “depth”
than a live stereoscopic VR experience.
• Hardware requirement is less than live VR, images are rendered (Photo Lab) and dragged to
Yulio to create 360 degree “cube map” photo, or directly via the CET Yulio plugin.
• Requires CET Designer license, Yulio extension free with 7.5 launch.
• Great solution for sales, bid submittals and showroom “hot spot” locations on a tour map.
Two flavors of VR
• Live & tethered
Two flavors of VR
• Portable VR –
• What is a cube map?
Why is now a great time to buy a laptop?
• CET Designer runs optimally with an nVIDIA GeForce video adapter
• The new VR extension requires faster video adapters, which also improve the 2D/3D view
performance in CET Designer all the time.
• Other common design software tools (AutoCAD, Revit, Adobe Suite, etc..) benefit as well.
• nVIDIA laptop graphics cards used to run significantly slower than their desktop counterparts, or
required a massive/heavy laptop for equal performance.
• The GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card breaks price/performance and weight paradigm.
Why is now a great time to buy a laptop?
CET Designer Laptop/Desktop PassMark score recommendations:
Minimum – 1290 or higherOptimal – 4954 or higher
Virtual Reality – 8664 or higher
A few words about “professional” vs “gaming/consumer” laptops
• Since 2011, I have purchased and supported 260 “consumer/ gaming” laptops in our dealership
(EVERY user including our CEO).
• Overwhelmingly positive feedback, failure rate lower than our Dell Latitude laptops
• Instead of extended warranties, I buy extra laptops (3 year lifecycle)
• Hot swap is faster than warranty fix
• Flexibility for unplanned hires, contractors, etc..
• Cheaper
• On our non-design laptops I saved our dealership almost $70,000 buying Asus vs Dell from 2013-
2016.
• Dell/HP/Lenovo “pro” laptops don’t offer the design laptop configurations I need.
.. But my IT guy/consultant says consumer/gaming laptops won’t last!
• Experience vs theory…
• Dell/Lenovo/HP make a lot more margin on “professional” hardware and market advantages that are
of little use to most dealerships, but drive up prices. They are a “safe” choice.
• Laptop “guts” are the same commodity parts, consumer or “pro”
• Gaming laptops are extremely price competitive, rugged
• Large companies have limited buying choices due to different IT and buying standards, outside of
true “enterprise” IT why limit yourself if you don’t have to?
• A design “workstation” for an architect/graphic designer has totally different hardware requirements
than a furniture dealer designer. Does your IT guy/consultant know the differences?
• Quadro vs GeForce – if you really want to pay a $3000 premium for equal performance, go for it!
What would I buy today?
Functional requirements:
• 14-15” form factor laptop that weighs between 4 and 5 pounds
• Budget of $2000 per designer, 3 year lifecycle
• 1 year warranty minimum (purchase extra laptops vs extended
warranty)
Specification requirements:
• 1080p IPS display (matte finish)
• 16 gigs of RAM
• 1 TB (terabyte) SSD hard drive
• 16 gigs of RAM
• nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060/1070 graphics processor
Why is now a great time to buy a laptop?
Atmosphere CI is buying the MSI GS63VR “Stealth Pro” laptop for all
designers in 2017:
• Great value @ $2000 per designer ($56 per month per designer for 3 years..)
• Exceeds all published hardware requirements for CET Designer with VR
• Weighs less than 4 pounds
• MSI/HIDevolution warranty is 2 years plus 1 year of accidental protection
• Previous MSI GS60 Ghost Pro’s have been popular, reliable after 3 years of service
Ways to avoid having to call Configura support
Use the chat feature, it’s awesome!
• Buy hardware that meets CET Designer’s published specifications
• Configure the hardware according to the published nVIDIA optimization guide linked on the Configura website (same spot they provide the specs!)
• High performance laptops will run at a lower performance levels on battery power unless purposefully configured not to do so.
• AutoCAD base plans… only bring forward the layers you need
• Configura support documents “how-to” procedures and frequent support questions regularly which can be searched from their website.
Questions + Demo Time
Donald, Peter and Nick are ready to provide demos of the new CET Designer VR Viewer extension, feel free to check them out now!
Angel is outside ready to show you various laptops featuring the new GeForce 1060 graphics adapter.
Questions for Jason?
Thank You