Sharing some nice feedback on Arkio here from a non-professional using Arkio to discuss their house refurbishment with the family:
After spending some time with Arkio and following this guide I have completed a first version of the room layout / design for my client ( son ) using the VR version of Arkio.
Not without its challenges and there are some Arkio tools requirements specific to interior design which I believe could be considered for the future , unless I have missed them entirely from the excellent suite of tools already available ?
Building the walls to a very specific scale and size together with the uniqueness of the Edwardian construction of the original house , variations in wall thicknesses etc , was tricky but not insurmountable. I think once you get into an Arkio mindset and methodology I think it becomes more intuitive and ultimately quicker .
My son is delighted at the quality of the visuals in Arkio and very excited to visit this project in VR. Hopefully, it can become a working sketch to which we can easily model modifications as he and his architect progress the project.
I have been equally thrilled to be able to adapt my old-school design skills to something far more evolved. I hope you can see what we were trying to achieve in Arkio
Attached are some visuals captured in camera
Success ! The Arkio VR visualisation was very well received and everyone felt it gave a very good representation of the pending refurbishment. I was so relieved !
A chance to explore what had only been a 2D drawing etc.
Casting the Quest to its app allowed others to contribute outside of the headset .
Comments/feedback included ;
More wall decoration options , particularly patterns etc. and ability to scale the pattern.
Furniture is very funky , in a future-IKEA sort of way, but other choices would be useful.
Like wise people , less architectural and more realistic.
Record a video walkthrough that could then be shared irrespective / separate of Arkio ?
More curved objects / shapes.
My son bit disappointed that the cellar design / layout was missing but at the time I did not see how to incorporate the basement without creating a two story building. Next time !
Everyone was blown away by the VR , as this in itself is new to most folk and I think despite the fact they may have been expecting something like a realistic / near photo realistic experience. Akin to the 3D visualisations kitchen design firms provide.
I did explain the limitations of VR and the Quest . Everyone happy !
It worked on the day and was a superb conversation tool allowing new ideas to arise.
Already there are new amendments which I may try to incorporate.
I am still keen to experience a VR meeting , just to possibly show how I approached Arkio and what initial limitations I encountered against my old-school designer expectations.
It’s unfair entirely to compare to Sketch-Up however I am certain you would like to mirror some of the finer model making options all the other software variants currently offer.
For myself I desire a more fluid less “snappy” method of building which I am certain will come with repeated practice of the current tools.
Excellent result here and a happy client . What more could we want
We’re thankful for conversations with users like this as it shows how much value this can give users and where we can improve Arkio to make it more accessible for everyone.
If you have any stories or feedback like this on Arkio, we’d love to see them here, as they can inspire other users and help us improve Arkio. Thanks for sharing this example with us, Tony!