Public Funding for Or3D Ltd

3D data has a wide array of uses in our modern digital world and provides much more information than 2D drawings. Architects use it for modelling buildings, Doctors for visualising CT/X-Ray data and Engineers for visualising complicated real-world parts. Where digital 3D is not used, physical 3D models are also key for collaborative engineering, meetings with clients and visualising real-world scale. Considering the Covid-19 pandemic several challenges to using 3D data for collaboration have arisen. Firstly, with many people being asked to work from home the key workstations that 3D data users used are no longer readily accessible. The software and hardware requirements for working with and sharing 3D data are above the hardware specifications of typical homes PC's and laptops, with many of these home machines not having the physical hard drive space needed for large 3D models. Secondly, due to social distancing restrictions, people can no longer meet in person around a single machine or model. This is further compounded by the expense of licencing software to view models and the incompatibility many 3D software files with each other. As such, the project's goal is to develop software and a service that is both general-purpose and industry-minded to enable collaboration using 3D data regardless of computer specification or file type. Working on a subscription model, users will be able to upload their 3D data. This data can be viewed by multiple individuals through their preferred web-browser and can be manipulated using the necessary basic tools for 3D meetings. Where commercially sensitive data cannot be publicly hosted, the software will also be available for offline hosting on organisations internal servers. The web-client will allow for chat between meeting attendees, the sharing of reports, and camera control for viewing and exploring the 3D models. The subscription costs to host private meetings will vary by data size and/or the number of attendees. Access will be controlled via invite. It is our hope this project will help re-enable the collaboration and workflows that have been disrupted, enable new forms of collaboration between users of 3D data, whilst also providing a platform for future use that eases the challenges of working with and sharing 3D data. Extension - Due to challenges brought up by Covid-19 in acquiring individuals with the Cloud Computing skills we need our original project scope had been downgraded to provide a “bare-metal” server solution rather than a complete cloud-solution. By extending the projects length we are able to re-engage the original scope, allowing for the potential for rapid scaling up to national and international levels. The extension also provides us with more time to collect and analyse the data we have received from our clients regarding user experience. This will enable us to provide a much more intuitive and gratifying experience for the service side of the project that enables quick and easy use for clients and a stylish and streamlined look of the overall product. Finally, we have organised a pilot group whose input would be used to determine end-user feedback that we can refine our marketing and highlight our go-to-market strategy by identifying industry applicable benefits. The extension would allow for a greater dissemination of information and to incorporate any needed changes in design or marketing strategy.